Hey tweets,

Day five of my swing around the state - I got up early on Wednesday morning to explore the Blue Mountains in Asotin and Garfield Counties, planning to drop down through the Blues into Garfield County to Pomeroy...

The plan started well enough, and I got my first life bird of the day on the way to Asotin - a Lark Sparrow on a wire. Chukars were also out early, and posing for me. The first real stop was Field Springs State Park, where I made the hike up to Puffer Butte. The main birds singing on the way up were Mountain Chickadees, MacGillivray's Warblers, Townsend's Warblers, Swainson's Thrushes and Hermit Thrushes. The top of this short-ish hike was beautiful, and there was a lot of woodpecker activity (Flicker, Red-Naped Sapsucker, and Hairy). I was hoping for a Williamson's, but maybe further down the road!

I made another stop at an awesome viewpoint over the Grande Ronde River. I had lunch here, hoping that I'd catch a Golden Eagle cruising near the cliffs - no luck, but it was a great view!

I got up into the Blue Mountains on West Mountain Road, but was turned back a little after Wickiup Campground. Would've been nice to catch a sign earlier! Still, the trip up was great, with more singing Hermit Thrushes, Townsend's Solitaires, Ruby-crowned Kinglets everywhere, and a brief escort from a Northern Goshawk! Second life bird of the day was a Williamson's Sapsucker, giving me the briefest of views on the hike I took 1/4 mile past the big logs blocking the road. I turned back at the sight of huge snow fields in the road.

Back in Garfield County (via Clarkston), birded some of the creek beds and canyons south of Highway 12 (Alpowa Creek Road, Sweeney Gulch Road), and ended the day with an even 50 species in Garfield before heading to Tucannon Campground for the night.

OH! And the flowers were awesome. I'll need to learn my flowers here soon!

-Tim Brennan
Renton

www.39counties.blogspot.com