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Today was a good (and cold!) day to look for raptors and waterfowl on the east side of the Cascades. I started the day at the railroad ponds in Cle Elum, which were productive for Canada Goose, American Wigeon, Mallards, Ring-necked Ducks, Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers, Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfishers, Steller?s Jays, and Belted Kingfishers. I dipped on the American Dippers usually found near the Highway 10 bridge over the Yakima River, but found plenty of Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels, a Merlin and a juvenile Bald Eagle in the Kittitas Valley north of Ellensburg.

Quilomene Wildlife Area was quiet, but the Columbia River below the Ginko State Park Visitor?s Center and at the boat launch next to I-90 was a good place to see rafts of several hundred American Coots as well Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Ruddy Ducks, a Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebes, Horned Grebes and adult and juvenile Bald Eagles. The boat launch also produced a White-crowned Sparrow and a small group of Dark-eyed Juncos that included at least one Slate-colored Junco.

Huntzinger Road was quiet; most of the waterfowl were above Wanapum Dam though there were plenty of Common Goldeyes, Buffleheads and Coots to watch in a cold wind. I failed to turn up a Gray-crowned Rosy Finch.

On the way home, I explored the mostly snow-free fields of the Kittitas Valley south of Ellensburg, where there were too many Red-tailed Hawks to count. I watched a juvenile Bald Eagle steal a treat from a Northern Harrier and was impressed with the number of adult and juvenile Bald Eagles monitoring the farmlands. On the way home, heavy snow over Snoqualmie Pass reminded me that there is a mountain chain separating western and eastern Washington.

Jim Owens
Mercer Island
jimo at brainerd.org<mailto:jimo at brainerd.org>