Hi Tweets - Although figuring success was a long shot, I made a quick run south today hoping for the Code 5 woodpeckers reported last week: Acorn in Clark County and Lewis' in Wahkiakum County. Got them both! I'd never been to Fort Vancouver but it was easy enough to find and right off I-5 at the E. Mill Plain exit. I parked at Fort Vancouver Way and McClellan Road and immediately heard ACWO calls from an oak "forest" to the east beyond the small war memorial. Walked through it but couldn't find the woodpecker. But I spotted the white gazebo some distance away where the ACWO had been first reported. So I drove down to E. 5th and started up the access road to the gazebo. An ACWO flew across the access road ahead of me and into a giant oak. I only saw one ACWO but it was quite mobile working the "forest" between McClellan and the gazebo area. After a few photos, I was on the way to Cathlamet. On Elochoman Valley Road, just north of town and east off SR 4, the small white house with mailbox 257A was easy to find but parking was miserable on the shoulderless 2-lane road. When I drove up to the house, I spotted a bird in the top of the tallest snag and in the bins, it was the rather drab-looking LEWO. I continued east to the Grange to turn around and look for a parking place so I could get out for photos. But when I got back to the house, I couldn't find the bird on any of the many snags behind 257A. I did find a pseudo parking place, though, next to a Foreclosure For Sale sign and steep gravel driveway west and opposite of 257A Elochoman. After a few minutes of watching, the LEWO came back up to the snag but in a flash shimmied around out of sight. And stayed that way for 20 minutes until I left, photoless. But glad to have seen them both so if you need something to chase this weekend, may still be Code 5 woodpecker opportunity in the Southwest.

Tom Mansfield in Kelso waiting for darkness and small owls...