Hi Tweets,



Barbara and I joined Penny and David Koyama for our trip to?Southeast
Washington. These three postage-stamp-sized counties east of Walla
Walla County are a long way from Puget Sound. We left?Seattle?on
Tuesday May 17th and returned on May 21st. Our outbound route took us
through?Kittitas?County?with a stop on?Huntzinger Rd?for a LEWIS?S
WOODPECKER and?Wanapum?State Park?for the LONG-EARED OWL. On State
Route 26 through Grant County there were 24 species??at the County
Line Ponds including 3 RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, and in Adams County east
of Othello was a BURROWING OWL on a fencepost near Booker Rd. At the
Hatton Rest Stop the best birds were 12 AMERICAN AVOCET and 1
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. At?Basset?Park?in Washtucna??we wondered what
female WILD TURKEY could resist the huge male strutting his stuff with
a puffed up breast, fanned tailfeathers and wings drooping almost to
the ground right in the middle of the street.

We entered Columbia County at Lyons Ferry, roughly 250 miles from
Seattle, and spent the balance of the afternoon in northern Columbia
County. At Lyons Ferry Boat Launch & K.O.A. we picked up the usual
suspects, plus a flyover by an OSPREY and a few minutes later a
PRAIRIE FALCON. We noted the GREAT BLUE HERONS nesting on the railroad
bridge to the west, DUSKY FLYCATCHER, and found here the only CEDAR
WAXWING we saw in the county. We picked up BEWICK'S WREN and BANK
SWALLOW near the?Tucannon?Bridge?at Powers, and then took the Little
Goose Dam Road, where we found a lone WHITE PELICAN, plus RING-BILLED
GULL, three swallow species, CALIFORNIA QUAIL, and SPOTTED SANDPIPER.

We spent most of the 18th in?Columbia?County, birding first at Lewis
and?Clark?State Park?west of?Dayton. Here we surprised 13 WHITE
PELICANS on a gravel bar in the?Touchet?River, There were two adult
GREAT HORNED OWLS near three almost-feathered owlets, and a
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK surprised us as it burst out of a small tree. We
realized that spring would come later here, we had few flycatchers,
and many of the passerines we had seen during the WOS Conference here
in June 2008 had not arrived yet. In the city park in?Dayton?we found
an OSPREY, a SPOTTED TOWHEE, 3 SPOTTED SANDPIPERS and by the nearby
high school a EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE foraged in the street. From
Marengo we moved up the Tucannon River, finding turkeys, pheasants,
and quail, kestrels, red-tails, lower down, and as we moved into the
conifer forest there were LEWIS'S, HAIRY and PILEATED WOODPECKERS,
HAMMOND?S FLYCATCHER, CASSIN'S VIREO, COOPER'S HAWK, a few geese and
MALLARDS at Rainbow Lake and an AMERICAN DIPPER at Camp Wooten.

Then we went into?Garfield?County?via?Blind Grade Rd.?and worked our
way down to Pomeroy. We'd spent only a couple of hours here
previously, so nearly everything was a new county species: ROCK WREN,
LAZULI BUNTING, a MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD sticking close to its nestbox to
prevent a couple of TREE SWALLOWS from moving in. SAY'S PHOEBE nesting
in an abandoned farm house, more GREAT HORNED OWLets, hummingbirds
goldfinches, quail, turkeys, pheasants, doves: it was good birding all
the way to Pomeroy.

We spent the entire 19th in?Asotin?County, starting on another sunny
morning at Subway Sandwiches on?Bridge St. We noticed a feeder
kitty-corner behind a converted gas station with BAND-TAILED PIGEON
and LESSER GOLDFINCH. In?Swallows?Park?we picked up many of the usual
suspects, then headed south on State Route 129. At the Savage Ponds we
found only a MALLARD pair, coots, and a SAVANNAH SPARROW, but a male
NORTHERN HARRIER nearby was a nice addition. We found RED-BREASTED
NUTHATCH, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, and CHIPPING SPARROW at the?Anatone
Cemetery?and WESTERN BLUEBIRD just off 129 at?Smith Rd.

Fields Springs State Park didn?t have as many species as we had
expected -- eight inches of snow had fallen just a few days before and
hadn?t all quite melted yet. But a GOLDEN EAGLE cruised by overhead;
we also found CASSIN'S VIREO, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, GOLDEN-CROWNED
KINGLET, and TOWNSEND'S and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. Heading down the
Rattlesnake Grade toward the?Grande?Ronde?River?we had close
encounters with CHUKAR, VAUX'S SWIFT, and a TURKEY VULTURE. At the
river we found BELTED KINGFISHER, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, NORTHERN
ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, and a
CANYON WREN called from above us. After an ice cream stop at the
riverside convenience store, we drove back uphill, stopping at a
riparian area and spotted VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW, LAZULI BUNTING, and
WARBLING VIREO. We took the road to Anatone Butte, finding RED-NAPED
and WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKERS, MacGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER, RUFFED GROUSE,
and RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS.

Early on the 20th we finished birding in?Asotin?County. The?Asotin
City?Park?had CALIFORNIA QUAIL, BEWICK'S WREN, LESSER GOLDFINCH and
more starlings than we were interested in. Changing the location to
Chief Timothy Park there was a SAY'S PHOEBE, 17 WHITE PELICANS,
BUFFLEHEAD, OSPREY, and a BARN OWL that flushed when we unknowingly
walked close to its roost. On the road into Kee Gulch by the mouth of
Alpowa Creek we picked up some ?dryland species: BREWER'S and LARK
SPARROWS, CHUKAR, and WESTERN KINGBIRD. Finally, on the opposite side
of U.S. 12 up the hill a bit was a house with a friendly dog -- and
BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD on a nearby power line.

We entered northern Garfield County and took Howell Grade Rd finding
ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW, LARK SPARROW and ROCK WREN, then we descended to
the Snake River via Casey Creek Rd. Between the Lambi Creek Recreation
Site and the Lower Granite Dam we found CLIFF SWALLOW, CHIPPING
SPARROW, HOUSE WREN, BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, WHITE PELICAN, GRAY CATBIRD,
GREAT BLUE HERON, and through our binoculars we noticed a crowd of
students, from Wazzu as it turned out, cavorting on the beach. Turning
to the rock wall above us we heard a CANYON WREN, and noticed we were
being observed by several BARN OWLS that were roosting in the
crevices. On a gravel bar near the?Garfield?County?shore were a
half-dozen pelicans with RING-BILLED and CALIFORNIA GULLS, and CASPIAN
TERNS. KILLDEER sounded off, SPOTTED SANDPIPERS fluttered by, and
MALLARDS and BUFFLEHEAD floated in the water. Just above the dam a
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT loafed on a log.

Heading for the uplands, we took?Mountain Rd south?from Pomeroy, In
the burn we saw 4 TURKEY VULTURES, and at the Boundary Campground we
found WESTERN TANAGER, WESTERN BLUEBIRD, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH and a
single?CLARK'S NUTCRACKER. Our final stop ?was at the Alder Thicket
Campground, where there were multiple RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS and
TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS singing, and a GRAY JAY perched near us.

On May 21 we visited the Toppenish NWR in Yakima County. Water levels
in the area were high, so we could walk to the refuge headquarters,
but no further. Nearby we heard an AMERICAN BITTERN (a noise described
by David Sibley as BLOONK-adoonk). We saw a RED-TAILED HAWK perched on
a PIED-BILLED GREBE nest while the frantic parents could only splash
water at it. We met Kerry Turley from Yakima Audubon who recommended
we look for ducks in the fields along Old Goldendale Rd. Rain was
starting as we went there and continued while we found BLUE-WINGED and
CINNAMON TEAL, NORTHERN SHOVELER, nesting BLACK-NECKED STILT, heard
SORA, and watched a VIRGINIA RAIL speed across the road, its legs
moving so fast I was reminded of the old roadrunner cartoons. Then we
headed for El Port?n for lunch before returning to?Seattle.

Good Birding!

Paul Webster
Seattle
paul.webster AT comcast.net