Hi Tweeters & Inland-NW-Birders -

I spent the long weekend over in Chelan, Douglas
& Okanogan Counties. Great weather and very birdy
most of the time.Sorry for the delay in getting
the write-up out.

FRIDAY, May 22:

CHELAN CO:
Camas Meadows [afternoon]: Birding the edges of
the meadow from the road produced many typical
eastside birds, despite it being 5:00pm: CALLIOPE
HUMMINGBIRD, NASHVILLE WARBLER, MACGILLIVRAY'S
WARBLER, LAZULI BUNTING, HOUSE WREN, DUSKY
FLYCATCHER, GRAY FLYCATCHER, & CASSIN'S VIREO.

Mission Creek [evening, night] - I camped near
the Devil's Gulch campground off Sand Creek Rd,
south of Cashmere. At a burn about 15 minute's
walk up the trail from the campground, I found a
BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER, and GRAY JAYS.

Final bird of the night was a single COMMON
POORWILL on Sand Creek road after dark - never
called, oddly, but was right underfoot as I
walked the road.


SATURDAY, May 23:

DOUGLAS CO:

Badger Mountain. On the way up the south/west
side of Badger mountain I picked up many
sage/rocky species including: CHUKAR, VESPER
SPARROW, SAGE THRASHER, BREWER'S SPARROW,
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD. The best spot along Badger
Mountain was about a mile off the main road on
Indian Camp Rd. The riparian area there was
packed with birds CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD, WILLOW,
GRAY & DUSKY FLYCATCHER, HOUSE WREN, and many
LAZULI BUNTING.Up closer to the top of the
mountain, where some roadside ponderosa pine
habitat remains, I added TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE,
TOWNEND'S & MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER, HAMMOND'S
FLYCATCHER, SWAINSON'S THRUSH, among others. A
Bobcat topped off the list, sneaking away as I
watched it.

St. Andrews / Stallard Lake / Jameson Lake / Grimes Lake
Next up was several stops at lakes & ponds on the
Waterville Plateau. Best birds included WILSON'S
PHALAROPE at Stallard Lake & at a roadside pond
along St. Andrew's Road West [heading ? west? out
of St. Andrews]. Stallard Lake also had AMERICAN
AVOCETS & CALIFORNIA GULLS. Jameson Lake , at the
south end, had CINNAMON TEAL, REDHEAD,
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS, and BARROW'S
GOLDENEYES. On or over the cliffs nearby I had
CANYON WREN, ROCK WREN & WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS.
Up at the north end of Jameson Lake, on Grimes
Lake, I called in a VIRGINIA RAIL and had a
GOLDEN EAGLE swoop in low over the nesting
PIED-BILLED GREBES & AMERICAN COOTS.


Bridgeport Bar & Central Ferry Canyon Rd. both
offered more passerine fun including GRAY
CATBIRDS, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT & my only PYGMY
NUTHATCH & HAIRY WOODPECKER of the day.

I think I ended the Douglas portion of the day
with about 95 species, without even pushing for
big-day like totals.

My final stop of the day was across the river in
Okanogan County, at Cassimer Bar.
A few birds were still around, including a MARSH
WREN, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, GRAY CATBIRD,
BULLOCK'S ORIOLE & BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK. I saw a
couple larger shorebirds flying in the distance
[perhaps Greater Yelllowlegs?], and thought I was
tracking a distant Pacific Loon for a bit - but
neither cooperated in any way close to allowing
an id.


SUNDAY, MAY 24:
After spending the night in Wenatchee & finding a
place to fix a flat tire, I spent most of Sunday
in Chelan Co.

CHELAN CO:
Swakane Canyon:
Swakane Canyon is another great spot for eastside
passerines - stopping at various places, up to
and including the areas around the beaver ponds,
I had a nice variety of the expected birds
including BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, BLACK-HEADED
GROSBEAK, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, WILSON'S,
TOWNSEND'S, NASHVILLE, MACGILLIVRAY'S & YELLOW
WARBLER, RUFOUS & CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRDS, WARBLING
VIREO & plenty of LAZULI BUNTINGS. Up on the
ridge-top I spotted a herd of Bighorn Sheep too.

Colockum Rd.
South of Wenatchee, close to the Kittitas county
line, I ventured up Colockum Rd - years ago I'd
been over the pass from Kittitas to Wenatchee
along this road, but remembered the road being
pretty rough. This time, I worked my way up, but
didn't try to get all the way in my little car.
Still a rough path, but not terrible. Down low
in some riparian areas, I found a group of
LEWIS'S WOODPECKERS hawking insects along the
road. Up in the ponderosa pine forest, not long
after the road forks [I headed right about half a
mile], I stopped at an old burn and turned up
WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKERS, RED-NAPED SAPSUCKERS,
TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE & MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS.
Looking at my records, it had been over 3 years
since my last White-headed Woodpecker sightings,
so these were very exciting to stumble across.

After fighting my way through the college
spring-break-like traffic around Lake Chelan, I
checked out Wapato Lake and Antilon lake, but
didn't turn much up..

My day ended with camping in Okanogan County,
along Black Canyon Rd.Camping about 2 miles up
the road, I heard several COMMON POORWILL calling
out as the sun disappeared, but couldn't coax any
of them in to be seen.



MONDAY, MAY 25:
Monday started with a few very birdy stops in
Okanogan County, then ended with more Chelan
birding before heading home.

Black Canyon Road, where I'd camped, awoke
nicely, with VEERY, CASSIN'S VIREO, HAMMOND'S
FLYCATCHER, and several other species.

I took the Twisp-Carlton Road up to Twisp,
stopping near the beaver ponds by Sungate Rd.,
and finding SAY'S PHOEBE, LAZ BUNTING, NASHVILLE
& WILSON'S WARBLER,, my only BLACK-CHINNED
HUMMINGBIRD of the trip, and a couple more
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS.

Dead Horse Lake & Shaw Lake, outside Twisp were
also full of birds - BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, REDHEAD,
CINNAMON TEAL & RUDDY DUCKS on Shaw Lake, with
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS around the edges. The
path towards Dead Horse Lake had CALLIOPE
HUMMINGBIRDS, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, HOUSE WREN,
RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, & DUSKY FLYCATCHERS.

Around mid-day, I headed back to Wenatchee,
birding for a couple hours at Confluence Park -
Best birds were a pair of Blue-winged Teal in one
of the oxbow ponds. Also had plenty of EVENING
GROSBEAKS, BULLOCK'S ORIOLES, a COMMON
YELLOWTHROAT, & a HOUSE WREN in a nest box.

My final stop before heading home was the
Leavenworth Fish Hatchery - An AMERICAN DIPPER
was standing guard next to its nest at the dam at
the far end of the trail. One or two WHITE-HEADED
WOODPECKERS [yay] came flying by and vocalized
quite a bit? And a couple uncooperative RUFOUS
HUMMINGBIRDS & CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRDS resolutely
refused to let me make them into anything else.

Overall, it was a great weekend for getting
re-aquainted with the summer birds of eastern WA
- I think almost all the sites above are included
in the ABA "Opperman" guide, so I've left
directions off. Feel free to contact me for
anything specific though.

Good birding,

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA