Hi Tweeters,

Heather and I spent the long weekend birding the south central part of WA. It was quite interesting to visit some of my favorite springtime spots in full summer mode. Not nearly as much singing, of course, but lots of baby birds and adults frenetically gathering food. The winner of 'the how many grasshoppers can you stuff in one beak' award went to a Sage Sparrow just south of Toppenish with a grand total of 3! Runner up was a Lark Sparrow with only 2, albeit of a larger size.

Our route took us over Chinook Pass (with a good 15' of snow on each side of the road) to Wenas Campground. The next day through Toppenish NWR and up to Brooks Memorial State Park on Satus Pass. And the final two nights at the Mt. Adams Inn at the Flying L Ranch in Glenwood (about 5 miles NE of Conboy Lake NWR)

WENAS CAMPGROUND 7/2&3: Biggest shock on the 4th of July weekend was that there were only 3 other campers! Highlights included WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKERS in the main camp area, 2 Common Nighthawks (one of which did its Vroom Dive over our campsite), Red-naped Sapsuckers, singing Townsend's Solitaires, Red Crossbills and the ethereal serenading of Veerys.

HARDY CANYON 7/3: Black-chinned Hummingbird, displaying Wilson's Snipe, Eastern Kingbird, Lazuli Bunting and Gray Catbird

TOPPENISH NWR 7/3: 89 AMERICAN WHITE-PELICANS - we saw them at the SW corner of refuge, just outside of the fence line where the creek comes near the road. Later they flew to a part of the creek on the refuge and were not visible at all. Western Kingbird, Bank Swallow and YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT from the visitor overlook on the east end. On nearby Lateral C, .8 miles north of Pumphouse road, we had a displaying male BOBOLINK.

BROOKS MEMORIAL STATE PARK 7/3&4: This is a sweet campground, that even had hot water showers available. In the campground and across the road toward the Environmental Learning Center we saw Hammond's Flycatcher, Vaux's Swift, Cassin's & Warbling Vireo, Warblers - Nashville, Yellow-rumped and MacGillivray's, Western Tanager and Purple Finch.

The most unusual non-sighting was a Common Nighthawk that 'peented' from the top(?) of a Ponderosa Pine. We heard it peent 3X in a row, three different times from 6 - 7 pm. Anybody know if Nighthawk's will call from a roost? We never did spot it in flight.

MT ADAMS LODGE AT THE FLYING L RANCH 7/4-6: This is a low key Inn that is in a great location for covering Conboy Lake NWR and Trout Lake. Lots of feeders next to the lodge and plenty of Adirondack chairs to enjoy the view of Mt. Adams across the meadow. They have continental breakfast and were happy to provide it to us the night before, so that we could get out birding first thing in the morning. Or, Conboy is close enough that you can bird and come back for breakfast.

On the grounds: A pair of very hard-working RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKERS that were working the European Birch next to the lodge all day our entire stay. Hard pressed to get any closer to a sapsucker. The seed feeders had in order of abundance - Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, Black-headed Grosbeak, American Goldfinch and for one hour - 2 Cassin's Finch calling. The hummingbird feeders had Rufous, Black-chinned and Calliope Hummingbird.

CONBOY LAKE NWR 7/5 & 6: We saw 9 Glorious SANDHILL CRANES, feeding in the TALL grass. We saw the most birds first thing in the morning off of Krep's Road that runs across the southern part of the refuge. From the Visitor's Parking Lot we took the Willard Spring Trail past 2 brand new sets of buildings. The trail goes behind the ranger's house, past a large Aspen grove and then enters a narrow band of Ponderosa Pine. We saw a pair of SANDHILL CRANES feeding in the marsh and had a calling GRAY FLYCATCHER. I've seen White-headed Woodpecker near the entrance in the past, but none on this trip. Other highlights: Gray Catbird, Eastern Kingbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Sora and Lazuli Bunting.

BALCH LAKE & CEMETARY 7/6: From Old Hwy 8 and Balch Road we were able to see an ACORN WOODPECKER on the granary tree (see Opperman for details). Around the cemetery we picked up ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, LESSER GOLDFINCH & LARK SPARROW.

CATHERINE CREEK - just we of the cemetery on Old Hwy 8 7/6: This was the first time that we've explored the trail heading north from the parking lot. We took the right hand road/trail that drops down into the canyon along Catherine Creek. This is a beautiful oak and riparian area that had Lewis' Woodpecker written all over it, but no such luck. The biggest surprise was a massive stone arch in the basalt cliff just after you cross over the creek. It is hard to believe that vertical columnar basalt can make such a huge horizontal arch - pretty cool. No big surprises in the bird world, but nice looks at White-breasted Nuthatch, Ash-throated Flycatcher and Nashville Warbler.

HOME VALLEY WATERFRONT: A GREAT EGRET was feeding off of Hwy 8 at about MP 50.

Good Birding,

Marcus Roening
Tacoma WA
marcus.d.roening at GSK.com