Terry Little and I birded Skamania County Thursday morning and found 72 species of birds. Seemed odd we did not see or hear any goldeneyes of either species. Marble Road had a calling Great Horned Owl at dawn. This was near the Clark/Skamania Co. line with the owl in Skamania Co. The boat launch area at Beacon Rock had 1 Dipper in the stream. Might be nesting under the roadway as it appeared from no-where. North Bonneville ball field had many Savannah Sparrows. Below the dam and down to the fish hatchery we had Mew, Western, and Glaucous Gull. A flock of 20+ Western Grebes were above the dam. The wetlands on the hill north of Stevenson had Rufous Hummingbird, Marsh Wren and Virginia Rail. Rough-winged, Tree, Violet-green Swallows were flying back and forth over Rock Lake. The water levels were high everywhere which made the usual spots with fewer water birds. Drano Lake had 1 Horned Grebe.

Thursday afternoon we birded Woodland Bottoms which had nothing of note and then we headed up along Merwin Lake. A Ruffed Grouse fed along the road into Speelyai Fish hatchery and 2 Dippers worked the two streams right before the hatchery. In Yacolt we found 3 large Monk Parakeet nests and a Eurasian Collared-Dove. A Merlin sat atop a large Doug Fir watching the birds comings and goings in the northeastern half of the town.

Friday we took the ferry to Puget Island as Hwy 4 was blocked with a rock slide. Puget Island produced Eurasian Collared-Doves, Great Horned Owl, and a Wilson's Snipe and heavy fog so we headed for Beaver Creek. Here we had a lot of good birds including Gray Jay, Sooty Grouse, Northern Pygmy-Owl, Anna's Hummingbird, Red-breasted Sapsuckers, Hairy and Pileated Woodpeckers, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Brown Creeper, lots of Pacific Wrens, and a fly-over Western Bluebird. Brooks Slough had Virginia Rails while Steamboat Slough Rd. had 1 Greater Yellowlegs, several Black-bellied Plovers, and Dunlin plus a pair of Cinnamon Teal. We could not locate any White-tailed Kites. Altoona had lots of water bird activity with highlights being Surf and White-winged Scoters, Pelagic Cormorants, and Caspian Terns. The ferry lines were long on Puget Island so we took the Astoria Bridge to get back home. Wahkiakum County produced 86 species before 2 pm.




Ken Knittle
Vancouver WA 98665
mailto:washingtonbirder.com
Washington Birder online
http://www.wabirder.com/