Tweeters,

A bit of a delayed report from a weekend down in southcentral WA.
Better late than never!

Saturday 4/16 = Skamania, Sunday 4/17 = Klickitat.

Saturday, Skamania - had a good day, despite the rain

In North Bonneville, I had my first SWAINSON'S THRUSH of the year,
near the resort.

At Stevenson, the EURASIAN COLLARED DOVES eventually showed
themselves among the flock of Band-tailed Pigeons around the feeders
on 2nd.

At Rock Creek Park , there were 17 GREATER YELLOWLEGS hanging out
near the river mouth.

Up at the Red Bluff Marsh, a SORA came right out and into view, and a
later visit turned up the first of several LINCOLN'S SPARROWS [LISP]
of the weekend. It was pretty cool to find LISP throughout the
weekend, pretty clearly moving through since they were popping up in
fairly unlikely habitat.

En route to Underwood, I stopped in near Little White Salmon
hatchery/Drano Lake and came across a pair of RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS
floating around. Also, a COMMON LOON was hanging in the lake there.

In Underwood, I spent a good deal of time walking all the roads,
hoping for Lesser Goldfinch - I didn't find any Lesser Goldfinch in
a couple extended visits, but could definitely hear a large flock of
American Goldfinch just behind a house that might easily have
contained a couple. Underwood, in general, remains a really birdy
neighborhood, fun to wander around looking at sparrows, Wild Turkeys
& California Quail, Rufous Hummingbirds, and many House, & Purple
Finch, American Goldfinch & Pine Siskins.

Sunday - Klickitat County
After not finding any owls at dawn along Tidyman Rd. in Dallesport, I
zoomed over to Six Prong Road to start the birding at the east end of
Klickitat county, working my way west through the day.

My thinking for the day was first to go for dry habitat species, then
to try to find wet fields for shorebird hopes.

Loggerhead Shrikes popped up in many locations along Six Prong & Sand
Ridge. Along Sand Ridge Rd., at the good patch of sage near an
abandoned farm, BREWER'S SPAROWS had joined the SAGE SPARROW mix
since my visit last month, but alas no Sage Thrashers came out.
Several Lincoln's Sparrows popped up here and there, especially
around the streams. A couple BANK SWALLOWS were checking out stream
banks. I ran across LONG-BILLED CURLEW throughout the day in both the
dry and the wet areas. Had one lingering ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, one or
two PRAIRIE FALCONS, and one very 'maybe' Ferruginous [south of
Goldendale, not over on Six Prong/Sand Ridge].

The fields southwest of Goldendale are very wet and looked great for
migrant shorebirds. But I didn't have much luck. I drove up and down
the long N/S roads checking most fields. A few Cinnamon Teal were
back, and there were many Northern Pintail around but the only
shorebirds I turned up were a pair of DUINLIN. Along Harms Way,
heading northwest from the area, I finally came upon my first
SWAINSON'S HAWK of the year. Yay!

At the bridge at the end of Horseshoe Bend Rd and SR 142 in
Wahkiakus, I came across my first VAUX'S SWIFTS. That place [where we
had Dipper last month] really looks like a lively stop worth
revisiting in different seasons.

Next, I headed up to Conboy -- en route, near Glenwood, a farm pond
had a handful of GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE hanging out. Conboy
looked promising, but again turned up almost no shorebirds -- I
managed to flush a WILSON'S SNIPE, and that's it. Still plenty of
ducks and a couple visible SANDHILL CRANES, but no yellowlegs.

It almost felt like spring was arriving....

Matt Bartels
Seatle WA