Tweets - I headed down to Skamania county Monday-Wednesday, hoping to find
some of the birds reported by Ken Knittle from his trip with Terry Little,
as well as to find some spring migrants that won't still be around in
summer. On that front, my trip was a failure. But there were surprise
birds that made up for the misses.

Monday morning, I stopped at Goodrich Rd. in Centralia on my way down. I
had a bright ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER which made me hopeful that migration was
in full swing. It turned out to be the only Orange-crowned I saw all trip.
Also at Goodrich was a juvenile GLAUCOUS GULL.

Stops in Cowlitz county were fairly unproductive, though there were swallows
and OSPREY back, as well as TURKEY VULTURES overhead - the norm for the trip
everywhere.

Ridgefield was a bit of a yawn, with only a single GREATER YELLOWLEGS.

>From there, I headed to Yacolt, where I was beset by a rain squall, so I
headed up Larch Mountain, where I was able to find GRAY JAY on the L-1500
road, higher up than Bob Flores and Randy Hill had them in February. I had
a few EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES on Washougal River Rd. in Clark County as I
headed east.

Tuesday, I birded eastern Skamania County.

In Underwood, I found a LESSER GOLDFINCH about halfway down Cooper Ave.

I then headed west on Cook-Underwood Rd., taking many of the side roads.

On Little Buck Creek Rd, I saw one and heard two more NORTHERN PYGMY-OWLS,
and then heard a fourth further west on Cook-Underwood. I also heard a
TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE in a clearcut on Little Buck Creek Rd.

A bit further west, I took another side road off Cook-Underwood, and had a
pair of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS in a clearcut that was being replanted (the crew
was there with their seedlings). There was also a NORTHERN HARRIER there.

At Drano Lake, just before the entrance gate to the fish hatchery, I had
another TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, this one sitting silently in a bush at the
water's edge.

In Stevenson, I was shocked to find three EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES at a house
with feeders on 2nd Avenue (the road that drops down from the Texaco to the
fairgrounds). The owner said he's been getting them "for years", as many as
seven at a time. When I came by again this morning, there were no
Collared-Doves, but there were a couple of Band-tailed Pigeons.

In the Red Bluff marsh above Stevenson, I could not find the Marsh Wren
reported by Ken, but did have a SORA near the little grove of willows along
the road in the middle of the marsh. Today, when I made a second failed
attempt at the wren, the sora was calling spontaneously. Tuesday, playing
the iPod for the sora seemed to be what set off yet another NORTHERN
PYGMY-OWL, which was perched up in the tall cottonwoods next to the marsh,
tooting away. There was also a COMMON YELLOWTHROAT that was interested in
the electronic wren it was hearing.

At the Bonneville Dam, I could not relocated Ken's Glaucous Gull, but did
see THREE WESTERN GULLS in full breeding regalia.

I then sped west, and failed to find any sign of Ken's Great Horned Owl on
Marble Rd. as light fell.

Today, the weather was pretty poor, with particularly badly-timed rain
squalls. Things were pretty quiet. I was trying to find Cinnamon Teal
somewhere, as well as maybe a shorebird. No dice, but at Sams-Walker,
following a tip from Wilson Cady, I was able to find HUTTON'S VIREO. A
PEREGRINE FALCON also flew overhead there.

At the small pond at the east end of Skamania Landing, I was stunned to find
a female RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. I was in the process of verifying field
marks when she conveniently swam next to a female Common Merganser for
direct comparison in the same scope view!

But the rest of the day was rather unproductive. I did manage to see the 5
common species of swallow, and several more Common Yellowthroats, but
nothing else new or of note.

Still, it was a good trip.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== http://www.marymoor.org/BirdBlog.htm
== birdmarymoor at frontier.com