WHITE?S ISLAND EXPEDITION AND ?200 X 39? FOR TOM MANSFIELD

26-28 SEPTEMBER 2014



Wahkiakum County was proving to be Tom Mansfield?s big challenge in his goal to be the first Washington birder to see 200 species in all 39 counties. Despite a concerted focus, Tom was stuck at 199 in this small county along the lower Columbia River. As Ken Knittle, Washington state county listing ?Godfather? would say, Wahkiakum is a ?tough? county. But there was still an ?easy? bird, the Streaked Horned Lark. To see it, all one has to do was to get out to White?s Island in the Columbia River, just upriver from Cathlamet. So, Tom hatched a plan to hire a boat to get out to this island. Part of the trip planning was to make the adventure a celebratory event.



Washington?s ?county listing movement? has poked into every nook and cranny throughout the state in search of bits of habitat that might harbor a tick on the county bird list. So it is with White?s Island in Wahkiakum County. This spot, though only ? mile off SR-4, is virtually unknown to the general birding community. Until our visit, the island had no entries in eBird. The most unique ?habitat? on the island is an expansive tract of sandflats on its east end, very sparsely vegetated with plants adapted to this rigorous environment. This broad sandy plain is actually artificial habitat or ?dredge spoils,? dumped in the course of repeated dredging operations to maintain the ship channel from Portland to the mouth of the Columbia River. This plain is important habitat for the endangered Streaked Horned Lark. According to Andrew Emlen, biologist who has undertaken census work on this subspecies on the island, 25 pairs nest here, making it an important population of the estimated 500 total estimated rangewide in Oregon and Washington for this imperiled race.



Tom invited several Washington birders who have helped him during the course of his ?200 X 39? quest. We were: Matt Bartels, Mike and Merrylynn Denny, Ken and Laurie Knittle, MaryFrances Mathis, and Ellen and Andy Stepniewski. Andrew Emlen was our guide.



The morning of the 27th was a little foggy but the pounding rainstorm of the 26th had fortunately passed and the weather for our trip was pretty close to perfect.. Winds were calm, too. The boat trip in, with Skipper Olaf Thomason, took us by beautiful cliffs unseen from the highway. These ramparts are Columbia River basalts that poured down the Columbia River gorge from northeastern Oregon to the Pacific Ocean. Because they face directly south and are evidently thin-soiled, a ?Willamette Trough? forest type extends west here, with Douglas-fir and Arbutus trees clinging to the steep slopes.

Not only is this area boast some real neat natural history but, of course it has a rich human history, beginning with the Native Americans. Then, Lewis and Clark plied these waters on their 1804-06 expedition across North America. We were privileged to see much the same landscape as they experienced some 210 years ago!

Reaching White?s Island sandy shores, Olaf beached and we eagerly headed up the steep bluff to the sandy plain. Shortly we found our first STREAKED HORNED LARKS and congratulatory hollers were heard from all! Though several attempted to get good photos for Tom of the lark, the birds proved skittish; maybe justified as we watched both Merlins and Peregrines streaking over the sand plains several times. While larks were flying by overhead, several of us heard a longspur rattle. Despite searching, we could never get a visual on this bird.

White?s Island has other habitats attractive to birds including sandspits, freshwater marsh, willow thickets, and Black Cottonwood riparian forest. After watching the larks, we set about canvassing these other habitats. In the unusual birds category, MerryLynn and several others observed a ?tiny? flycatcher they identified as a LEAST FLYCATCHER.

On our return to Cathlamet, Olaf took us on a spin around Puget Island. We sped by the impressive Black Cottonwood forest along the southwest end of White?s Island, another site that beckons. We clipped alongside Puget Island, a ?developed? island with dikes encircling its farmlands. Then, we rounded Ryan Island, undeveloped like White?s Island. Here we noted tidelands dominated by Sitka Spruce, as is typical of the outer coast of Washington and Oregon.

Back at the dock in Cathlamet, we picnicked by the dock and again celebrated Tom?s achievement of ?First in the 200 X 39 Club? in Washington.

We will all remember with fond memories our exploration of White?s Island, a lovely bit of new frontier for the Washington birding community.

The following is a list of birds I noted in our two hour visit.

Cackling Goose 30

Canada Goose 15

American Wigeon 15

Mallard 30

Northern Shoveler 3

Northern Pintail 4

Common Merganser 1

Common Loon 2

Double-crested Cormorant 40

Great Blue Heron 2

Turkey Vulture 3

Osprey 3

Northern Harrier 2

Bald Eagle 1

Virginia Rail 5

Ring-billed Gull 3

California Gull 40

Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 30

Vaux's Swift 1

Red-breasted Sapsucker 1

Merlin 1

Peregrine Falcon 1

Steller's Jay 3

Western Scrub-Jay 7

American Crow 15

Common Raven 3

Horned Lark 25

Violet-green Swallow 130

Barn Swallow 100

Black-capped Chickadee 5

Marsh Wren 2

Bewick's Wren 4

Golden-crowned Kinglet 5

Swainson's Thrush 2

American Robin 25

American Pipit 15

Cedar Waxwing 30

Orange-crowned Warbler 2

Common Yellowthroat 6

Yellow-rumped Warbler 5

Wilson's Warbler 2

Spotted Towhee 4

Savannah Sparrow 10

Fox Sparrow 7

Song Sparrow 10

Lincoln's Sparrow 2

White-crowned Sparrow 3

Golden-crowned Sparrow 15

Western Meadowlark 1

Brewer's Blackbird 10

American Goldfinch 5



Andy Stepniewski

Wapato WA

steppie at nwinfo.net






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