Hi all,

I headed out Friday morning for three days of some migrant trap birding,
some WOS conference field trip scouting, and some dry weather birding on
the east side of the Mountains. There was a few hours Friday morning and
again on Sunday morning that I was certainly glad I brought along my
rain gear and my rubber boots. Oh well, I really can't complain as the
birding was terrific. For those going to the WOS conference, you should
be treated to yellow and orange eye-candy on some of your canyon and
mountain trips. Western Tanagers, Bullock's Orioles, Nashville Warblers,
Yellow Warblers, and Yellow-breasted Chats were abundant. I was amazed
at how often I found chats.

Here is some of the highlights from my three days:

Friday, June 4:
Birded the Vantage area in the morning in moderate rain until 9 AM but
it was windless. I found a few "western" migrants at Gingko and at
Wanapum S.P. but nothing really out of the ordinary. It is a bit late to
find such fair numbers of these birds still at these locations however.
A lingering Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler is a good example. So do
Red-breasted Nuthatches actually nest at Wanapum State Park? I had a
pair at the picnic area. Best bird of the morning was not a migrant - it
was a PACIFIC LOON south of the Vantage Bridge. This bird was present a
few weeks back.

I joined Ryan Merrill for some afternoon birding at Potholes State Park
and then we continued on to Sentinel Bluff. Mowers and incoming campers
and extremely high waters of the reservoir cut short our birding efforts
at the park. Although there was a few migrant passerines at Sentinel
Bluff the extremely high winds hampered our birding. Our highlights here
included two Great Egrets, two Olive-sided Flycatchers, and 3 Gray
Catbirds (they must nest here).

Saturday, June 5:
I scouted areas along the Entiat River and Mud Creek. As with Mike and
MerryLynn I found many of the expected birds on territory on my route. A
responding Northern Pygmy-Owl, a few flying Black Swifts, a Clark's
Nutcracker, and a Lewis's Woodpecker were nice.

In the afternoon I scouted Lake Chelan S.P. and Chelan Butte. The
weather was great and the scenery was fabulous. A pair of WHITE-HEADED
WOODPECKERS at the park and a soaring PRAIRIE FALCON near the butte were
my highlights for the afternoon.

In the late afternoon I made an unsuccessful hour long attempt to locate
a reported COMMON GRACKLE in East Wenatchee near the Golf Course. It
certainly could still be in the area though so it may be a potential WOS
conference "goody". I also made a short trip into Indian Camp Road in
the early evening and relocated a LEAST FLYCATCHER as reported by George
Gerdts on his Badger Mt. scouting trip from the prior weekend. It wasn't
very cooperative, however and it was not vocalizing.

Sunday, June 6:
After a night on Badger Mountain I had great plans of migrant trap
birding on the way back home in places like Sun Lakes SP and hopefully
at a windless Sentinel Bluff. I never made it much past Douglas County
with my birding efforts. The town of Douglas was nice and again a
handful of "western" migrants were present. As with a few other traps
this weekend it was nice to see a few Swainson's Thrushes that are the
"Olive-backed" subspecies. The first major highlight of the trip came at
a stop at Atkins lake along Highway 2 at milepost 182. Along with some
waterfowl, a few American Avocets, and a few Wilson's Phalaropes there
was a lone WHIMBREL. It appears as though there are only two previous
June records (?) for this species in E. Wa.. The two lakes/wetlands near
St. Andrews contained fair numbers of waterfowl along with some advocets
and Black-necked Stilts.

What turned out to be my last birding stop of the day was a grove of
"Silver Maples" (?) south of St. Andrews at a little after 9AM. To be
exact, the grove is at 0 NE and 4 NE - 3.7 miles north of Highway 2. It
was beginning to rain lightly, but it was windless so I decided to give
the grove a try. Two Pacific-slope Flycatchers and another two
Olive-backed Swainson's Thrushes were about all I turned up on my first
pass through. Just when I was about to give up I glanced a bird that I
thought at first to be a very late Ruby-crowned Kinglet. No! Upon closer
inspection this little fella was a BELL'S VIREO. With decent off and on
looks for over a half hour period I decided to take a break in the car,
write some notes,and dry off as the rain became quite heavy. I
stubbornly stayed around to view this bird in better light and through a
scope as I felt it wasn't going to go anywhere in the next few hours.
Sun Lakes and other spots will have to wait to be checked on another day.

See some of you at the WOS conference.

Cheers and good birding,
Brad Waggoner
Bainbridge Island
mailto:wagtail at sounddsl.com