SHRUB-STEPPE CLASS TO THE COLUMBIA BASIN

27-28 APRIL 2012



Ellen and I led the Seattle Audubon Society Shrub-steppe class this year.
Just what is the shrub-steppe? East of Cascade Mountains in the Pacific
Northwest and east of the Sierra Nevada in the American Southwest, a rain
shadow exists. Thus, most moisture from Pacific storms is dumped on the west
slopes of the mountains, leaving a huge part of the interior American West
in a rain shadow. In Washington, the vegetation community that has evolved
in response to this semi-arid climate is the Shrub-steppe Zone. Simply put,
it is a region characterized by a shrub-layer with a ground cover of
bunchgrasses. This ecosystem has been extensively altered by the coming of
white man; fully 60% has been converted to other uses. Much of the remaining
shrub-steppe has been degraded, especially by invasion of weeds and grazing.



We started with a class session Friday night in Seattle followed by an
all-day fieldtrip to the Columbia Basin on Saturday, blasting off from
Seattle at 6 am. Our next rendezvous was in Ellensburg. Then we started our
birding in Kittitas with good views of both Swainson's Hawk (Old Vantage
Highway west of Fairview) and Great Horned Owl (Old Vantage Hwy. west of the
hill out of the valley) at their nests, a great start! Very nice weather
graced us all day, another plus. Okay, okay, these first stops were not in
the shrub-steppe but it's hard to ignore man-altered environments nowadays.



Heading east on the Old Vantage Highway, we made a couple stops in the high
quality shrub-steppe along the route to Vantage. The first was in an area
with shrub-steppe on deeper soils (Big Sagebrush/Bluebunch Wheatgrass with
Sage Thrasher, and Brewer's and Vesper Sparrow, and Western Meadowlark)
side-by side with shallow-soiled lithosols (Rigid Sagebrush/Samdberg's
Bluegrass with Horned Lark and Mountain Bluebird). Farther east we stopped
at the Quilomene Wildlife Area along the Old Vantage Highway, a great site
mostly in the deeper soiled Big Sagebrush/Bluebunch Wheatgrass community.
Here I was supremely challenged to show the group a Sage Sparrow though they
were singing their heads off all around. The weather continued perfect: warm
and calm. There seemed to be absolutely no excuse for this miss.
White-crowned Sparrows were everywhere, still migrating north. Some folks
saw a fly-by Loggerhead Shrike. Another critter helped make these memorable
stops: several Short-horned Lizards, blending quite perfectly with the
lithosol soils. Of course, we took time to admire the spring wildflower show
with various biscuitroots, Sagebrush Violets, lupines, Showy Phlox, several
balsamroots, Microseris ("native dandelion") and others.


We took our lunch at the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park Interpretive
Overlook. From this cliff top perch over the Wanapum Pool, we had scope
views of water birds below, including Greater Scaup, Bufflehead, Common
Goldeneye, Common Loon, and Horned and Western Grebe. Land birds nearer at
hand included Say's Phoebe (at its nest on the west door). Common Ravens
wheeled in the sky and swallows, both Violet-green and Cliff Swallows
flitted by in the sky at this stupendous viewpoint.



We tried again for Sage Sparrow at the John Wayne Trail trailhead near the
south end of Huntzinger Road, south of I-90, in the early afternoon, but
could only produce a Brewer's (likely a migrant in this degraded
shrub-steppe). Chukars called briefly from the talus at Sentinel Gap. An
Osprey wheeled overhead and several Caspian Terns were scoped by the edge of
the Wanapum Pool.



It was getting on in the afternoon when we cruised along Lower Crab Creek
Road, east of the Columbia River. Even if we saw no birds, this is sure a
magnificent drive, along the base of the imposing Saddle Mountains. We did
see birds, though. Raptors here were the highlight: Northern Harrier,
Swainson's and Red-tailed Hawks, two Golden Eagles, and American Kestrels.
Where the road comes closest to the base of the escarpment we walked across
the saltgrass/greasewood flats to the talus, as close a slice of the Basin
and Range province typical of southeastern Oregon (and beyond) as I can
think of in Washington. White-throated Swifts sliced the sky high above the
cliffs and both Canyon and Rock Wrens sang from high up above us. Farther
east on the road we spotted a Swainson's Hawk.


As it was getting late in the afternoon I hoped my finale at County Line
Ponds, a series of alkaline ponds along SR-26 west of Othello was going to
be as good as promised. It did not disappoint. This type of wetland, like
the vegetation along Lower Crab Creek, is another outlier of the Basin and
Range country to the south, and surely one of the few like this on the
Washington birding trail. Eleven species of waterfowl dotted the ponds
(Canada Goose, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Northern
Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Redhead, Greater Scaup (yes,
Greater), and Bufflehead). Seven species of shorebirds made this stop
especially memorable: Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt (wow!), American Avocet,
Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Wilson's Phalarope. On
the return journey some folks spotted a Long-billed Curlew in fields along
the highway.



Ellen and I really enjoy this class and thank everyone for coming out to
eastern Washington, bringing their enthusiasm and stimulating questions. We
hope, in some small measure, our efforts help foster awareness and
protection of this beleaguered landscape.



Andy and Ellen Stepniewski

Wapato WA

steppie at nwinfo.net