On Thursday (5/22/08), my dad and I
decided to go for the Big Day record in tiny Asotin County. The official record, set in July last year by
a WOS field trip with Ken Knittle, stood at 98, and we hoped it would be easy
to exceed that total with a bit of effort. The
weather held up all day being overcast with light rain a few times, but never
much of a wind.


We left Spokane at 2am, arriving in Clarkston by 4
o?clock. We couldn?t coax out any
Western Screech-Owls, but the birds began to rack up even before daylight with
AMERICAN ROBINS, VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS, and a calling WOOD DUCK just north of
Asotin.


Then it was up the grade and
south. The Savage Ponds only had a
couple MALLARDS, KILLDEER, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, and TREE SWALLOWS.
HORNED LARKS and SAVANNAH SPARROWS were along the roads to the east. At Anatone we tried the cemetery, where an
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and VESPER SPARROWS were singing.


We spent a bit of time birding Field Springs
State Park, which had a
large number of breeders and forest birds we obviously wouldn?t get later. Right by the entrance were the first of many
TOWNSEND?S & MACGILLIVRAY?S WARBLERS, WINTER WREN, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET,
CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, CASSIN?S VIREO, HAMMOND?S FLYCATCHER, WESTERN
TANAGER, PINE SISKIN, and SWAINSON?S THRUSH and RUFFED GROUSE which managed to
stay out of sight. Bird activity was
really good.


Pushing onward, we had RED-NAPED
SAPSUCKERS, several PILEATED WOODPECKERS, HAIRY WOODPECKER, DUSKY FLYCATCHER,
BROWN CREEPER MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, CHIPPING SPARROW, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET,
DARK-EYED JUNCO, and a quick view of a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK.


Heading down Rattlesnake Grade we
picked up our only NASHVILLE WARBLER of the day, followed by loads of LAZULI
BUNTINGS and a LARK SPARROW. Down into
the riparian area BULLOCK?S ORIOLES and WESTERN KINGBIRDS were thick, along
with some WARBLING VIREOS, a CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD, a few YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS,
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, and a CANYON WREN.


Birding along the Grande Ronde
River was interesting. The river was incredibly high, as were all the
creeks we encountered through the day. On
the river we had BELTED KINGFISHER, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, and 3 COMMON MERGANSERS.
Two GOLDEN EAGLES were nice, and a BALD
EAGLE was near its nest which held two nestlings. We also had our only WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE of
the day and another LARK SPARROW. CLIFF
SWALLOWS were abundant in places.


We explored up Grouse Creek Rd, but figured the road to
the Wenatchee Guard Station would still be snowed over, so we turned back
before long. We did get our only CASSIN?S
FINCHES of the day though.


Working our way back up the river
valley and up the grade, we didn?t add much more aside from VAUX?S SWIFT. No Lewis?s Woodpeckers was surprising. Back up top, we drove west on W Mountain Rd
towards the guard station until encountering too much snow to continue at about
4,600 ft. HERMIT THRUSHES made it
worthwhile. Then we explored east of the
Hwy along Montgomery Ridge Rd. PYGMY NUTHATCHES showed themselves as did
HOUSE WREN. Along Weissenfel?s Rd we
pulled in a GRASSHOPPER SPARROW and heard a couple more. A TURKEY VULTURE cruised around and we had
lots of WESTERN and just 1 MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD.


Back at Anatone, a WILSON?S SNIPE
stood out on top of a telephone pole, and we picked up NORTHERN HARRIER just
south. BANK SWALLOW and N ROUGH-WINGED
SWALLOW made it a 6 species day over a small pond.


Time to head for the Snake River Valley. We picked up our first HOUSE FINCHES and HOUSE
SPARROWS of the day in Asotin. Swallows Park was disappointing in not having any
ducks, but we did get a female BLACK-CHINNED and a male RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD as
well as an OSPREY. West of Clarkston, RING-BILLED and CALIFORNIA GULLS were on the water, and the GREAT BLUE HERON rookery in Chief Timothy WMU was active.




Chief Timothy SP was surprisingly
quiet migrant-wise, with really almost no migration evident. However along the entrance road there was a
raft of WESTERN GREBES and a couple RUDDY DUCKS, and a lone FORSTER?S TERN
cruised around between Asotin and Whitman
Counties. In the park we did have 2 LESSER GOLDFINCHES
which may be continuing their range expansion.


At the Alpowa Creek mouth a GADWALL
was one of only a few ducks. We had a
hard time with ducks, finally ending up with only 10 species after a lot of
effort. Maybe the high and swift water
had something to do with it. Headed back
east we had a couple CHUKAR (finally) along Silcott Grade Rd.




We spent the last minutes of the
day checking back over some Clarkston locations to try and add a few more
ducks. We ran into a male AMERICAN
WIGEON at Swallows
Park, which seemed to
have appeared out of nowhere. Our luck
held as we checked a location just north of Asotin. Among several Wood Ducks we located a male
BLUE-WINGED TEAL and several NORTHERN SHOVELERS.


We headed home around 6:30 with a
total of 110 species. We could have done
much better with ducks (missed Bufflehead, etc), and any night birds would have been great. A number of birds didn?t seem to be in yet
(Red-eyed Vireo, Eastern Kingbird, Willow & Western Fly, Veery), and we
just missed a few like Red Crossbill, Downy Woodpecker, and White-breasted
Nuthatch. Also with a bit of migrant
activity we could have easily picked up Wilson?s Warbler or some other
migrants. Overall though we did fairly
well and did set a new record! It was a good day.





Michael and Roger Woodruff
Spokane, WA



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