Hi Everyone,

This year's Master Birder class finished up its official class functions last weekend with a two-day trip to Eastern Washington led by Dennis Paulson (the primary instructor for the Master Birder program). The weather Saturday was pretty hot, but not unbearable. Sunday was quite windy, but we still managed to find plenty of species. Our Saturday route took us into Ellensburg on the freeway, old Vantage Highway to Vantage, then to Coulee City and a loop down to Moses Lake - then back to Ellensburg. On Sunday, we birded from Ellensburg to the 4,000 foot level on Manastash Road, and then had quick stops at the Cle Elum railroad ponds and the Elk Heights burn on the way back to Seattle.

The group trip list totaled 130 species for the weekend, which we felt pretty good about given the wind on Sunday and the fact that we were turned back by snowed-in roads from the higher elevations that were on the original trip plan. (Manastash Road had significant, heavily-rutted snow patches at about the 4,000 foot level, and with still 1,000 feet of elevation gain ahead of us, we decided discretion was the better part of valor and retraced our route back to Ellensburg instead of continuing over the ridge and into Cle Elum as in the original plan. Unfortunately, one car had mechanical difficulties after the turnaround, resulting in lost time and significant logistical challenges with towing companies, but all ended well (though quite late for some people).

Many of the attendees had life birds on the trip, and there were a number of highlights. A few of my personal highlights were:

RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER - a lifer for me which flew into view and gave nice long looks on Manastash Road
WHITE-THROATED SWIFT - also a lifer; we were lucky to have several working the Dry Falls Lake observation center, only a few feet above our heads. The swallows working the same area looked positively slow and cumbersome by comparison.
GOLDEN EAGLE - This magnificent bird soared effortlessly in the windy conditions on Sunday in easy binocular range for several minutes on Sunday over Manastash Road.
BURROWING OWL - We had a very cooperative Burrowing Owl sitting on a fence post on the old Vantage Highway just outside of Ellensburg, allowing for great photos (I'll post links later) and great looks. This is a very rare bird in Kittitas County, prompting the group to wonder (tongue-in-cheek) if it might be the bird seen earlier in the year at Marymoor, finally realizing it belonged on the other side of the mountains and working its way to the Othello area.
HORNED GREBE and EARED GREBE - Both in full breeding plumage on Soap Lake.
SWAINSON'S HAWK - Two birds on a telephone pole allowed long looks and photographs for quite a long time on the way into Moses Lake from the Coulee City area.
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK - A very late Rough-legged Hawk sitting close to the road on an irrigation pipe in Grant County.
LONG-BILLED CURLEW - A male and a female in a field close to the road, on the outskirts of Moses Lake.
WILSON'S and RED-NECKED PHALAROPES - Red-necked Phalaropes were seen both on Soap Lake and the Coulee City wastewater treatment ponds. Wilson's Phalaropes were seen on the Coulee City wastewater pond as well.
SEVEN WARBLER SPECIES - Gingko State Park had several trees dripping with migrants.
BULLOCK'S ORIOLE - Multiple birds were working the shoreline trees around Deep Lake, vocalizing constantly.
CASSIN'S FINCH - Substantial numbers present at the Elk Heights burn area.
HAIRY WOODPECKER - Two male Hairy Woodpeckers were facing off and squabbling over territory at the Elk Heights burn for about five minutes as I watched and photographed.

I'm sure I speak for the rest of the class in having a huge appreciation for Dennis Paulson - he did a fabulous job effortlessly presenting his 40 years of Washington birding experience.

John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net
www.tubbsphoto.com