Hi Tweets,

Barbara and I took a quick trip from Seattle to Lewis County yesterday,
enjoying bright sunshine on the moss-covered trees that were just beginning
to leaf out. The temps ranged from 45 degrees early to 63 in the
mid-afternoon. Spring arrivals were few (Tree and Violet-green Swallows, and
perhaps the Orange-crowned Warbler we found at Schafer County Park) but we
did pretty well finding the remaining winter waterfowl. All told we spent
six hours in the field and located 57 species, not counting a shy Brown
Creeper and a Hutton's Vireo that both simply refused to pop up into view.

To plan our trip we followed helpful suggestions in earlier trip reports by
Ken Knittle and Tom Mansfield. We spent three hours on Lincoln Creek Rd west
of I-5 exit 81, where birding was good generally, especially on a short
stretch of Teague Rd just off Lincoln Creek Rd. There is still plenty of
water in this drainage for ducks and other waterfowl, After lunch in
Centralia we birded the abused Hanaford Valley northeast of Centralia with
the coal-fired steam plant, and, and finished the day birding around
Mayfield Lake, principally at Ike Kinswa State Park. It was a great day to
be out birding!

Species seen:

Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan (2 tooting near Lincoln Creek Rd)
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon (1 in shallow pond near the steam plant)
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Western Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Killdeer
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Rufous Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow (several with TRSWs seen near Lincoln Creek Rd)
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Purple Finch
Pine Siskin

Good birding!

Paul Webster
Seattle
paul.webster AT comcast.net
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