Kathy Andrich, Tom Finn, Randy Hill and Anne Kahle joined me for the "Going Home East" trip after the Washington Ornithological Society Conference in Kelso. Our first stop was was at the Steamboat Landing Park in Washougal which was near birdless. We then went to the Washougal Sewage Lagoons where while we were being serenaded by numerous calling VIRGINIA RAILS we scoped the shorebirds silhouetted by the rising sun and found two PECTORAL SANDPIPERS and a couple of WILSON'S SNIPE. We then checked Capt. Clark Park along the Columbia River but the wind had started to pick up and we could not locate any birds so we head for the Gibbons Creek pumps and checked the weir and surrounding mudflats hoping for Green Heron . We climbed the dike to get a view of the area and spotted a very plain looking juvenile hawk sitting on a piling in the Columbia River that turned out in flight to have the classic wing windows of a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. This was a different bird than the one I saw on Steigerwald Lake NWR a week ago and the youngest juvenile I have seen in Washington State since I saw my first one at Steigerwald in August, 1990. At Steigerwald we found MUTE SWAN, TUNDRA SWAN, MERLIN, AMERICAN BITTERN, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH and Randy found a four-leafed clover to give to Anne, who wanted a BARN OWL in Clark County . After locating the owl we headed up the Gorge and found decreasing winds on the east side of the aptly named WInd Mountain at Home Valley in Skamania County. According to the weather reports the winds had reached close to fifty mile per hour.

We then visited the Spring Creek Fish Hatchery where there was at least one RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER and a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH that was not calling but was in oaks and cottonwoods, the right habitat for the Slender-billed subspecies. With time running short we headed for Balch Road in Klickitat County.

The four-leafed clover was still working as after we climbed to the top of the bluff above the Catherine Creek Preserve on Old Highway No. 8 I spotted a LEWIS' WOODPECKER fly into the oaks along the road and we came to a sudden halt in the middle of the road. This worked out perfectly when Randy, who was in the last vehicle quickly spotted two ACORN WOODPECKERS which quickly flew over a ridge and out of sight . We drove back down the road where we could check the oaks in the canyon we just came up and searched hard for the birds. Randy once again located the birds and we were able to get great scope views of these birds. The Balch-Lyle Cemetery was quiet and the only things we picked up at Balch Pond for Klickitat County was WOOD DUCK and the State-listed WESTERN POND TURTLES. As we headed downhill from the pond a group of juvenile WILD TURKEYS crossed the road in front of us and the decided to turn around and head the other way.

It was a great day of birding with fine folks and my only regret was how quickly the time went.

Wilson Cady
Washougal, WA


____________________________________________________________
Find Radiant Heating Pros
Get free radiant heating estimates. Compare up to 4 free bids today!
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/c?cp=Y3od__0yR_uSidnEktKusgAAJ1Af3IvMi6Mtlwa2MO7vQOwHAAQAAAAFAAAAAIcWWT0AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEhgFAAAAAA==