Today, Ken Knittle and I had the pleasure of showing Brook Davies some Skamania and Klickitat County birds. We started the day at the Schoolhouse Creek wetlands, along the Washougal River in Skamania County, with two GREEN HERONS. We then headed east up the Columbia River Gorge heading for the Conboy NWR in Klickitat County, the only problem we encountered all day was during this travel period when a TURKEY VULTURE flew into the windshield of Ken's vehicle. At the Conboy NWR we found at least 100 WESTERN BLUEBIRDS in a mixed flock with CHIPPING SPARROWS along Kreps Lane. A surprise along this road were three EASTERN KINGBIRDS, when we got to the refuge headquarters we spotted a fourth kingbird there. The bird of the day was also spotted here, a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK that was observed perched, flying and feeding on an unidentified prey item. Also seen here were a DUSKY FLYCATCHER and a early GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW. From Conboy we headed up to Takhlakh Lake in northern Skamania County, which was swarming with people looking for relief from the heat in the lowlands. There was a steady stream of vehicles moving along all of the roads in that area which eliminated any chance to find grouse species. The birds we did manage to see there included MERLIN, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, GRAY JAY, CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, FOX SPARROW, WESTERN TANAGER along with hundreds of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. Wilson Cady
Columbia River Gorge, WA