Two of us got a typically (for me, anyway) slow and late start (noon) on a break-away outing (first of the season) to explore some central Washington spots, where, during spring migration and nesting times and sometimes late winter, we have had some great sightings and experiences. With fall color another draw, we figured that, even if we struck out on bird finds, we'd get some good weather and scenery. Turned out we saw lots of great landscapes and plenty of special bird and mammal wildlife encounters, to make it yet another memorable trip to CWA.

We jokingly started a car bird list, initially wondering if we'd break a 10-species count for the trip, after only seeing crows, robins, cormorants, Steller's Jays, Rock Pigeons and gulls for the first leg of the trip between Seattle and the other side of Snoqualmie Pass. Even once we made it to Cle Elum, after a little side trip to Rattlesnake Lake where we added Osprey and Red-tailed Hawk to the list, we found the lack of birds, especially bird sounds, gave us an empty feeling. The last time we'd slowly made our way down the Cle Elum RR Ponds gravel road and back, we'd discovered all sorts of passerines, raptors and ducks, and heard much chipping and singing and calling. This time, we heard one little "chip", couldn't find the bird in the bushes. A dark-eyed Junco was a real find, the fly-by crow, almost... I should mention that we spent a good 5 min. on some non-Mallard ducks, which, by careful analysis, we proudly determined to be those poorly named Ring-necked Ducks (we could see rings on the bills, but no neck rings). They were seemingly in eclipse plumage and constantly in silhouette that dang sun !

Then, on our way back to the ponds' road entrance, we spotted a bird on top of a snag out in one of the ponds - Sue, in the better viewing seat for the south side of the road and in a better position to take her attention off the road than I, persisted in checking it out, even after I was already passing it off as something dull and usual, like a jay or a flicker, or (heaven forbid), a robin. Her pronouncement that it looked liked a raptor caused me to brake hard, swerve in the gravel and quickly find a spot to pull over. Sue jumped out quickly with her binocs and said it was small and maybe a kestrel. Once I grabbed binoculars, scope and camera, and took a gander at it, in silhouette, at a distance of maybe a couple-hundred feet (OK, you can safely multiply that by any factor you like, because I am one with a very limited sense of distance approximation, as some of you are well-aware :-)), the "jiss" (sp ?) of that silhouette, and size, told me immediately that we had ourselves a MERLIN !!!. AND, soon we discovered that it was hunting the large darners that were literally infesting this area. Earlier I had shoved off a thought that, with this prevalence of dragonflies, there might be a fly-eating raptor feeding on them. I don't think I recall ever seeing a perched or hunting Merlin in any of the places I've been to in CWA - but with my memory being what it is (and isn't), someone can probably remind me of "that Dennis Paulson field trip to the Potholes in 1973" when one zipped by as most of us were admiring the Yellow-headed Blackbirds or the spinning Wilson's Phalaropes.

With my scope on the Merlin, and Sue mentioning that it looked like it was eating, I could pick out cast-aside dragonfly wings still hanging from some of the branches - you can see some in a few of my photos (links to trip albums below). SO, the Merlin was was enjoying a satisfying snacktime. Then, in flew a calling kingfisher, which dared to land on another snag branch and do her fish-hunting from there, not put off at all by the presence of the Merlin, nor did the Merlin seem bothered by the kingfisher - no prey competition that afternoon for these birds - but I did have some hope that we would witness the Merlin sampling, out of curiosity, one of those fishy things the kingfisher was going for. But, it was NOT TO BE, probably because, at the very moment the Merlin might have been diving off for a piscine snack, a train blew by, blasting both birds off to parts unknown, not to return while we were still there. Thus ended this chapter of our adventures at the RR ponds. Sue was moved to poetic expression of this thrill of our day : here's her creation:
--------------------------------
Dinner with Merlin and Kingfisher

Perched in the bare branches
A merlin and a kingfisher
Wait and watch,
A dinner buffet laid out before them
in the river below.

Soon the merlin dives for
A dragonfly
The chattering kingfisher dives for
A fish.

Contently they share their meal
in the bare branches
above their fine dining establishment.
----------------------------------
On to the Dipper Bridge (proving dipperless), the Hiwy 10 cliffs (totally birdless) and down the roads toward Ellensburg and the Yakima River Canyon, where the main activities witnessed in the wildlife we saw, were sexually-related, with a little grazing activity mixed in.

Black-tailed deer were mostly feeding and running about, with no actual chasing witnessed. They did "high-tail it" occasionally. Wild Turkeys were crazily involved in running after each other, with 2 males particularly, spreading their tailfeathers into fans and strutting as well as chasing the unappreciative females. No vocalizations were heard. More deer were out in the same area as the turkeys, so, when I became bored with the seemingly endless show-off male turkeys, I would turn my camera toward deer and scenery, which by then included some colorful vine maples.

When the turkey toms ran out of gusto and deflated their tail displays to resume munching, we continued on down the road, pulling over to photograph the brilliant red staghorn sumac bushes alongside Canyon Rd. Sue found that nearby there were bighorn sheep speeding downslope - females being mercilessly run after by one ram - they were on the slopes below the craggy rock cliffs, yet it was still amazing how fast they all navigated the rocks and uneven ground - my knees ached just contemplating it.

Having gotten the urge to chow down ourselves, we returned to E-burg and had a wonderful dinner at the Roadhouse Grill. The plan was to head back down Canyon Rd. to Milepost 4 to see, if by chance we could hear or see some Barn Owls or Nighthawks, but, not only were we too late, and it was too dark (even with the full moon out). The stars made for a lovely end show and the peaceful background chirping of crickets a nice addition.

Time to head home - we were pretty tired and that brought on some confusion as to how to get back to I-90 near Selah - we took a wrong turn and ended up at the gate to the Yakima Training Center, where one of their security officers, instead of taking us in for questioning, nicely answered our question about how to get to I-90, which turned out to be via I-82, which we'd last seen in daylight.

The drive back was long, but we made it, by 1 a.m. Caught up on rest yesterday, and now am ready to go again soon. Kee,kee,kee ! Speaking of kees, there was some chittering and 'pic' calls made one block from my house yesterday afternoon - only once - I saw 1 or 2 Merlins land at the top of a Douglas fir a block away, but they must have flown by the time I got my scope and binocs...

Here's the bird list Sue made on our drive:

Between Seattle and Exit 432 on I-90:
2 double crested cormorants
Rock Pigeons
Glaucous winged gull?
american Crow

At Rattlesnake Lake exit 432):
Osprey
Am. Robin
RT hawk

At Cle Elum Ponds:
Junco
Stellar's Jay
Mating dragonflies on the wing
Ring-necked ducks
Mallard
Canada goose
Merlin (probable Black subsp. male)
Kingfisher female
RT hawk
N. flicker (heard)

Along Hwy 10:
Starlings
Mourning Doves
N. Harrier (female)
Bl. billed magpie
Kestrel
Rock Pigeon

Down Canyon Rd:
GBH
wild turkeys
Ruby crowned kinglet or Huttons vireo
Mule deer
Bighorn sheep
N. flicker


Check out the photos from the trip in these 2 Flickr albums:


> https://flic.kr/s/aHsk4yxE91 - "Exit 432 to Cle Elum to MP 94"
>
> https://flic.kr/s/aHsk4ybnsz - "Canyon Rd. Showings"



Barb Deihl
Matthews Beach Neighborhood - NE Seattle
barbdeihl at comcast.net






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