After receiving an email last night from Stuart Johnston alerting me to some good birds found during a waterfowl survey in the Columbia Gorge, I decided to work on my county year lists. My first stop was at the Franz Lake NWR overlook along Highway 14, here among the hundreds of TUNDRA SWANS a TRUMPETER SWAN was calling while CANVASBACKS loafed in the open spots in the partially frozen lake. At Rock Creek Cove in Stevenson, the REDHEADs (1 male, 2 females) that Stuart had found were easily spotted from the highway along with a male EURASIAN WIGEON. A PEREGRINE FALCON was perched in one of the snags on the island. At Home Valley Park, an EARED GREBE was in the Columbia River, viewed from the Wind Surfing beach were first found yesterday. With the ease of re-finding the birds seen the day before I decided to push my luck and leave Skamania County and try for a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK seen at the Bingen Pond in Klickitat County. I circled the pond a couple of times and checked the forested areas on the east side of the marina without seeing the bird. As I was leaving this spot Stuart drove up and directed me back to check the east side of the marina while he searched from the west side where he quickly spotted the bird perched in an alder along the east shore of the marina cove,, a new Klickitat County bird for me. Wilson Cady
Skamania County, WA