Hi Tweets!

I just got back from a Monday-Wednesday trip that took me to Spokane and back. Verrry good trip, three lifers, and some ?life looks? at some other birds. Instead of dropping an enormous brick of an email in here, I?ll make it a three-brick deal, with an entry for each day.

So.. Monday! I was staying in Wenatchee for two nights, with a Tuesday obligation in Spokane. I wanted to focus on Chelan County for Monday, and according to eBird, the ?Vaga Dell Ranch? is some kind of amazing birding location near Lake Wenatchee. I poked around and got in touch with the person who enters the data at that location, and found it was a private residence, but got an invite to join Gretchen Rohde on her daily walk of her and her neighbors property!

Getting there by 9 meant leaving at oh dark thirty, with a stop for breakfast in Monroe. I made a stop at 7ish on some of the backroads near Stevens Pass in King County. I was hoping for something interesting like a Sooty Grouse or a Gray Jay, but ?only? got Pacific Wrens and a billion Varied Thrushes (my favorite bird).

I somehow left without my map and without my Opperman?s guide (please let me know if you just gasped at that combination of facts.), but the GPS thingy on my phone was able to get me to Gretchen?s place well enough. It was very birdy early, with swallows as I drove in (Northern Rough-wined, and Tree), Robins, and my first Cassin?s Finches of the year. During the walk, we found nearly 25 species, including a lot of birds that were new to the county for me. Between our walk and another stop on the way back to highway two, I was full up on finches (Purple, Cassin?s, Evening Grosbeak, Red Crossbill, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch). We also had Wood Ducks, an Osprey flyover, and several winnowing Wilson?s Snipe. We tried for owls (Gretchen has had Barred, GHO, and Northern Pygmy), but struck out.

>From there, I made two stops before Wenatchee ? my first was in Leavenworth to chase my nemesis bird ? the White-headed Woodpecker. Last year, I was given pretty specific help (in more than one instance, GPS coordinates for nesting sites) for finding these birds, and I came out of it empty. So I finally went where you?re supposed to go for these birds ? the Sleeping Lady Resort in Leavenworth. After walking the grounds for a Good Long While, finding American Dipper, Hairy Woodpecker, and four Turkey Vultures, I finally went to the gift shop, so that I wouldn?t feel like a trespasser wandering the grounds. The woman at the desk asked me if she could help me find anything, and I jokingly said ?how about a White-headed Woodpecker?? She pulled out a map and showed me where on the grounds people had seen them, and a second woman came in and talked about where they might be nesting. (!)

I went out behind ?Flicker? and sat down with an apple. Quieter than any of the other woodpeckers on site, a White-headed Woodpecker finally came in on the tree right above me (sorry ? no pictures of anything from my trip ? the camn damera is broken at present?). I enjoyed the beautiful bird and continued down the hill very happy. There are other woodpeckers I?ve missed in the state (Black-backed and Three-toed), but this was the one I really wanted to see.

My next stop was at the Peshastin Pinnacles. I?ve never been there, but had seen a report for White-throated Swifts. After a short hike (I want to do the whole thing some time!) I saw two dozen or so of the birds swirling over the top of one of the Pinnacles.

In Wenatchee, I birded Confluence State Park ? only short walks from a couple parking areas ? and found Killdeer, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and good variety of swallows. I also had a few Say?s Phoebes, which turned out to be regulars from the hotel parking lot on the next two mornings. I tried after that to bird up and down the Columbia, including a run up Stayman Flats Road near Chelan, but I don?t think I found anything out of the ordinary, although the Common Loons on the Columbia were in breeding plumage, which was a lot of fun. I also made my pilgrimage to the Orondo Cider Works, got some cider, salsa, donuts and apples ? which maaaaay have been my meals more than once on the trip.

To bed. Tomorrow ? an early start to get to Lincoln County by sunrise!

Tim Brennan
Renton