Subject: [Tweeters] SAS Kittitas County Field Trip
Date: Jun 3 13:30:34 2009
From: Paul Webster - paul.webster at comcast.net


Hi Tweets,

There aren't many better things to do on an early June day than bird the east slope of the Cascades. Yesterday, June 2, Barbara and I were joined at 6:00 a.m. at the Issaquah Park and Ride by six other early-risers for a Seattle Audubon field trip to Kittitas County.

Our weather was unusually good, with sunshine filtering through a light layer of clouds that kept the high temps in the low 80s, even in often-infernal Yakima Canyon. The result was that birds and birders stayed active all day, so that we were able to log 96 species, despite missing some almost sure bets: Dipper, Cassin's and Purple Finches -- and Olive-sided Flycatcher, because a Fox Sparrow above Snoqualmie Pass imitated the OSFL so well and so loudly we couldn't decide if a real OSFL was present. But we logged 8 flycatchers, 8 thrushes, 9 warblers, and 8 sparrows, and swept the nuthatches and chickadees.

Our day included a hike up past the two water tanks above Snoqualmie Pass, a stop near the Yakima River on Stampede Pass Road, the Northern Pacific ponds in Cle Elum, a second hike up Umtanum Canyon (across the suspension bridge over the Yakima River), and the trail to Umtanum Falls from Wenas Road. We made brief stops at Easton, Ringer Loop Road, the Pioneer Bakery in Cle Elum, and finished the day with dinner in Ellensburg before driving home.

Species seen:

Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Mallard
Barrow's Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser (this enraged female chased a goldeneye away from her chicks)
Common Merganser
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Cooper's Hawk (not sure if 1 or 2 birds)
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Prairie Falcon (2 seen, 1 being harrassed by a kestrel)
Sooty Grouse
California Quail
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Rock Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Vaux's Swift
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-naped Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Willow Flycatcher
Hammond's Flycatcher
Gray Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Western Wood-Pewee
Say's Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Cedar Waxwing
Canyon Wren (heard briefly in Umtanum Canyon)
House Wren
Gray Catbird (this skulker came out to sing for us)
Sage Thrasher
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
Townsend's Solitaire
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Robin
Varied Thrush
B-c Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
C-b Chickadee
Pygmy Nuthatch
R-b Nuthatch
W-b Nuthatch
Steller's Jay
BB Magpie
Crow
Raven
Starling
House Sparrow
Warbling Vireo
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Am Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
Versper Sparrow
Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca "olive-sidensis")
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole

Good birding!

Paul Webster
Seattle
paul.websterATcomcast.net