For the last 8 days I've been helping 11 intrepid Tropical Audubon folks from South Florida (i.e. floridanus spp) to find some of their targets. This trip started on 6/21 and ended today. Here some of the highlights/unexpected birds. [sorry this is going to be all over the place]. It was a good trip, but of course, there were some misses: Canyon Wren (despite trying 4 times) and Northern Pygmy-Owl (yeah, it's not the best month, but this is just about the first time I missed them).
King:-Lake Sammamish SP: Red-eyed Vireo, Lazuli Bunting (adding to Sharon's list)
Kittitas:-Robinson Canyon: Crippling looks at several Common Poorwills-Quilomene WA: The usual sage species (Sagebrush, Vesper and Brewer Sparrow, Sage Thrasher, plus Mountain Bluebird)-Ginkgo area: Chukar at the cliff face. We failed to get Black-throated Sparrow, but did not linger
Chelan:-Forest Discovery Trail (Blewitt Pass): 2 Black-backed Woodpeckers (Chelan Co, just off parking area;m Chelan side), also Williamson's Sapsucker nest in the same area-Sleeping Lady Resort (Levenworth): 2 White-headed Woodpeckers-Chelan Falls: White-throated Swift (just 1), Golden Eagle
Douglas:-Red-necked Grebe in breeding plumage (47.986634, -119.875957; this is essentially for Meredith only ...)
Okanogan (more details here):-Cassimer Bar (Okanogon River mouth access): Booming American Bittern (2)-Common Loon: 2 basic plumage near RN Grebe location above, but in Okanogan Co, 1 in breeding plumage on Conconully Reservoir-Riverside Cutoff Rd: Chukar at cliffs and Yellow-headed Blackbirds at pond at Greenacres Rd-Scotch Creek Basin Overlook: Sage Thrasher (1 singing downhill)-above Salmon Meadows: Pine Grosbeak, Three-toed Woodpecker, no Boreal Chickadee (first miss in many years for me)-FR39: Lincoln's Sparrow at Tiffany Spring; Savannah Sparrow near MP19; several Cassin's Finches and Townsend's Solitaires-Cameron Lake Rd: Black Bear, 3 Gray Flycatchers, 3 Black-necked Stilts, 2 American Avocets, Pygmy Nuthatch, Yellow-headed Blackbird-Fancher Rd: 2 singing Bobolink-Highlands Snopark in the fog: Black-backed Woodpecker, Williamson's Sapsucker nest, singing Townsend's Solitaire-Whitestone Lake: Red-necked Grebe (as usual), dark-morph Swainson's Hawk, several Redhead-Loomis (the Lewis's Woodpecker show continues ...)-Sinlahekin Valley (Veery, Red-eyed Vireo, Lewis's Woodpecker, Dusky Grouse, Yellow-breasted Chat, ...). This is always a crowd pleaser.-Sun Mountain Lodge near Winthrop: 3 Dusky Grouse, Calliope Hummingbird-Baldy Pass: 2 Black-backed Woodpeckers on east side of pass; no Hawk Owl; Golden Eagle-Roger Lake: 2 Three-toed Woodpeckers at nest side, still excavating; Dusky Grouse along lower FR37; Lincoln's Sparrow
Whatcom:-Newhalem (6 Black Swifts just west of town along 20, for about an hour)-Newhalem Agg Ponds (2 American Redstarts, several Hammond's FC)-Washington Pass (Pine Grosbeak, singing Varied Thrush)
Skagit:-Washington Park in Anacortes: Marbled Murrelet (just 1 in non-breeding plumage!), Black Oystercatcher)
Island:-Harlequin Duck (2 at the Keystone Ferry Dock)
Jefferson:-Mt Walker (1 Sooty Grouse)
Mason:-Along 101, just south of Triton SP: Sooty Grouse (crippling look of bird feeding on grasses right along road)-Sheldon: Missed Western Scrub Jay
Thurston:-Capitol State Forest: Hermit Warbler (essentially got rained out here though)
Grays Harbor:-Westport Pelagic trip on 6/28: Arctic Tern, Cassin's Auklet, South Polar Skua, Black-footed Albatross, ... (the regulars, really; this is as much as I was told, I wasn't on this trip)-Snowy Plower (3 at fenced in area south of Grayland SP), also Whimbrel, Sanderling and Least + Western Sandpiper and several Sooty Shearwaters offshore-Bushtit (Bottle Beach; yes, believe it or now, this was the the target)
OK, need to rest now ... Sometimes I wonder who really reads this? Is is worth typing all this up?
Stefan SchlickHillsboro, OR