After seeing Randy Hill and Ken Knittle's message about HORNED LARKS in Washougal and at the Steigerwald Lake NWR, I had a chance to look for them when I attended a meeting and tour at the refuge this morning. There were Horned Larks on the road leading into the Refuge office, in the parking lot at Steigerwald Lake NWR and in several flocks along Highway 14 for the next two miles heading west. With this many of the birds around I decided to try for them in Skamania County by going further east up the Columbia Gorge. I checked the shoreline at Skamania Landing where I found a DIPPER and one AMERICAN PIPIT. Doetsch Pond at the east end of Skamania landing held one GREAT EGRET, always a good bird in Skamania County. My next stop was at the Hamilton Island Recreation Area below Bonneville Dam, where there were several hundred HORNED LARKS all along the road with about a dozen WESTERN MEADOWLARKS scattered amongst them. There were three NORTHERN HARRIERS, two RED-TAILED HAWKS and an AMERICAN KESTREL using this open area too. Wilson Cady
Skamania County, WA