Hi Tweets,

Tom Aversa and I birded in Kittitas County today, up Colockum Road and Naneum Ridge then back out via Coleman Canyon. Good selection of the typical species with highlight a Black-backed Woodpecker nest along Colockum Road in the lower ponderosa pine zone, shortly below the point where the road reaches the power lines. Look for mile marker 3-1/2 in red paint on a tree at the right edge of the road. Uphill through the forest across from this tree on the left side of the road is a small, recent burn. The nest hole is in a short (foot-and-a-half), charred stump maybe 100 yards upslope but before reaching the brow of the hill, behind which the power lines can be seen. A female was tending a juvenile male that called constantly and peered out of the cavity. It would not be surprising if the young bird(s) was (were) out of the nest in a day or two, but the family may well stick around the burned patch for some time yet. Also had a Williamson's Sapsucker nest in an aspen grove higher up the road to the pass.

Good birding!

Hal Opperman
Medina, WA
hal at catharus.net