Subject: [Tweeters] Birding and Butterflying Sunday at Cowiche Canyon and a
Date: May 6 13:15:49 2013
From: wheelermombi at comcast.net - wheelermombi at comcast.net


Hi Tweeters,

Yesterday, Dave and Sherry Hayden, Barb McDowell, and I spent the latter part of the morning and much of the afternoon in Cowiche Canyon near Naches. It was my first day as a nube butterflyer, and I wanted to begin my latest OCD list with the recently split-off species Lucia's Blue. It was still a bit early for some of the migrant bird species, but we were lucky to catch a few recent arrivals. Here is a partial list of what we spotted:

Hause Creek (still gated closed): Very quiet. We did see my FOY HOUSE WREN and BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD

Pull-out on Hwy 12 near MP 183 and before (coming from the west) Oak Creek Rd.: LEWIS'S WOODPECKER, WHITE-THROATED SWIFT, and SWAINSON'S HAWK (the first that I have spotted in this area) , all FOY

Cowiche Canyon: FOY CLIFF SWALLOW, SAY'S PHOEBE, CALIFORNIA QUAIL, PURPLE FINCH, CANYON WREN, ROCK WREN, and 1 LAZULI BUNTING

The butterfly species that we identified (mostly Dave and Sherry) included our target LUCIA'S BLUE ( Celastrina lucia) ! The Red Osier Dogwoods were flowering toward the top of the canyon but were still budded lower down. We saw a number of them landing on both the buds and the flowers. Dave and Barb were able to take a few photos. Also seen were OCHRE RINGLET, BECKER'S WHITE, MOURNING CLOAK, SPRING AZURE, TWO-TAILED TIGER SWALLOWTAIL, and ANISE SWALLOWTAIL.

We also saw `1 WESTERN RATTLESNAKE and 1 RACER.

On the way home, we drove up Bethel Ridge Rd. as far as the first aspen grove near the fenced meadow. The woods were still very quiet; not even a Chipping Sparrow yet. We were able to find RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER nesting in the aspens and just 1 DUSKY FLYCATCHER nearby. We also drove down a side road (1304 if I remember correctly) to a recent burn. We located 1 male BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER. Butterfly species included PALE SWALLOWTAIL and SATYR ANGLEWING.

Good birding,

Lonnie Somer
Kent, WA
wheelermombi at comcast.net