Tweets - I led 6 others on a 3-day trip to Skamania County, last
Friday-Sunday, June 3-5. We had good weather and good birds and a great
group of people.

Friday, we birded just the SE corner of the county, mostly working from
Cook-Underwood, but making side trips on lots of other roads. Saturday, we
birded the SW corner of the county, mostly from SR-14. Sunday, we drove
north from Carson to Northwoods and Cougar. There isn't much access in the
northern part of the county due to snow closures of NF-23, NF-25, NF-90,
etc.

We found great difficulties identifying warblers by song. We had what
sounded like a Hermit Warbler that turned out to be a Black-throated Gray,
and the Hermit Warblers were singing what sounded like Townsend's Warbler
songs. We managed many great looks at Hermit Warbler during the weekend,
just about everywhere we went.

Some birds were ubiquitous - VAUX'S SWIFT, WARBLING VIREO, HERMIT WARBLER,
WILSON'S WARBLER, WESTERN TANAGER, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK. In the SW part of
the county, we heard PACIFIC WRENS at just about every stop.

Friday, we started in Underwood, spending a lot of time walking the trail at
the Northwestern Dam Rd. Very birdy, with killer views of a MacGILLIVRAY'S
WARBLER and CHIPPING SPARROW. Other birds there were NASHVILLE, WILSON'S,
and BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS, an ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD, EVENING GROSBEAKS,
and CASSIN'S VIREO.

We had CALIFORNIA QUAIL in Underwood, and a LAZULI BUNTING along
Lacock-Kelchner Rd.

Up at the top of LITTLE BUCK CREEK RD, we had singing HERMIT THRUSH, a
NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL, our first of many HOUSE WRENS and OLIVE-SIDED
FLYCATCHERS, and a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER right next to the road, as well as
a PILEATED WOODPECKER.

Along Cook-Underwood we found and AMERICAN KESTREL, our only YELLOW-RUMPED
WARBLER of the trip, a couple of MOURNING DOVES, and a pair of WESTERN
BLUEBIRDS, all in clearcuts. HOUSE WRENS and CHIPPING SPARROWS were along
almost every road in the Cook-Underwood area.

>From Willard, we went up to Big Cedars Campground, which was quite nice,
with HAMMOND'S and PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS, SWAINSON'S THRUSH, a close
look at an AMERICAN DIPPER, and flyby RED CROSSBILLS.

We then headed up Prairie Rd/NF-66 to the Big Lava Bed, which was way cool.
There were many CALYPSO ORCHIDS. We also saw a BROWN CREEPER building a
nest.

We then backtracked to find an ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER on the north side of
SR-14 just west of the entrance to the Spring Creek Fish Hatchery.

We finished up Friday at Red Bluff Marsh above Stevenson, where there was a
WILLOW FLYCATCHER, YELLOW WARBLER, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, and ORANGE-CROWNED
WARBLER to bring us to 84 species for the day.

Saturday, we started at a beaver pond just inside Skamania County on
Washougal River Rd., where there was an active BUSHTIT nest, WILLOW
FLYCATCHER, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, glimpses of WOOD DUCK, and a EURASIAN
COLLARED-DOVE, as well as many of the usual suspects.

Marble Rd. had several LAZULI BUNTINGS, and an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER (both
were in both Skamania and Clark counties).

We had a great time birding Smith-Cripe Rd. and walking NF-1853 at the top.
This is a gorgeous site, and very birdy.

Sams Walker had a HUTTON VIREO, and there was a SPOTTED SANDPIPER at
Skamania Landing.

The day got very hot, sunny, and windy, and we declared it time for icecream
at about 3:00 p.m.

Sunday, we started at the mouth of Wind River, where several PURPLE MARTINS
were landing in and on a piling in the middle. We also had another SPOTTED
SANDPIPER. We went just a short distance up Wind Mountain Rd., and were
able to hear a CANYON WREN singing from the cliffs. Carson had more
CALIFORNIA QUAIL.

We then worked the very birdy clearcut on Panther Creek Rd. At Beaver Camp
Ground, there was a HAIRY WOODPECKER nest with babies being fed. At Carson
National Fish Hatchery, we had three BARROW'S GOLDENEYE and another AMERICAN
DIPPER. At Mineral Springs, just north of the hatchery, we had a beautiful,
very dark MERLIN eating its breakfast.

Up Meadow Creek Rd. we heard VARIED THRUSH. Just near the intersection with
Curly Creek Rd. we had a couple of GRAY JAYS. We then worked our way out of
Skamania on Curley Creek Rd. to NF-90, to SR-503 without adding anything
new.

We spent about 2 1/2 days in Skamania County and tallied 98 species.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== http://www.marymoor.org/BirdBlog.htm
== birdmarymoor at frontier.com