Saturday 4-12-14 Tom Mansfield and I birded Wahkiakum County. Places visited were: scoping from Hwy 4 over to White's Island where we had 1 Eared Grebe nw of the island. Then we hit Puget Island with nothing super good, but some year birds for us. The sewer ponds in Cathlamet were pretty dead bird wise.

Heading west we planned to bird the Julia Butler Hansen NWR, but found signs on both ends closed to entry. Don't know how long it will be closed. Along Brooks Slough Road which was open we had a late Sooty Fox Sparrow. We then headed to Altoona to catch the tide coming in for best scoping only to find the tide already was in once we got there. Still lots of Greater Scaup with 12 Horned Grebes, 4 Red-throated Loons, 1 Common Loon, a few Common Goldeneye, 2 Surf Scoters, and 3 Ruddy Ducks.

With the tide high we checked out the west side of Deep River and found 5 Lesser Yellowlegs, 3 Short-billed Dowitchers, and 2 Dunlin sitting on logs close to shore. A Northern Rough-winged Swallow was near the end of the road.

Heading back east we ate lunch up the West Valley Road surrounded by clear-cuts. 2 Western Bluebirds, 1 Hutton's Vireo, Gray Jays calling along with 1 Sooty Grouse were nice.

Our last main stop was on top of Beaver Creek Road. Still pretty quiet, but did have 1 varied Thrush calling and 2 Sooty Grouse vocalizing. The total birds seen in Wahkiakum County was 80.




Ken
Knittle

Vancouver WA
98665 mailto:washingtonbirder at hotmail.com
Washington Birder online



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