Subject: [Tweeters] Clellensburg Deihlights - 4/9/15
Date: Apr 11 11:49:07 2015
From: Barbara Deihl - barbdeihl at comcast.net


Winter started showing its sleety self again as I drove over Snoqualmie Pass Thur. afternoon, with cloudbursts of pelting rain giving the car a forced shower. It only lasted for about 20 min., until I reached the Cle Elum exit. Then, for the next hour, while I did some birding, sightseeing and exploring (in the Cle Elum Farm & Home store on the main drag), brooding clouds kept themselves in the western background, letting lots of big, puffy, predominantly white, cumulus members of the cloud family head east, to do their things to provide us humans with great backdrops for photos. Negligible wind, and warm enough for only one medium fleece jacket. Cle Elum Ponds were my first stop.

From Cle Elum, I did my usual SR10 meander, stopping at various cliffy areas to look for raptors and any other birds that crossed my path, as well as to photograph the magnificent scenic views. Ospreys are now back on many of the nest platforms, so they played heavily in my viewing. Birdwise, I pretty much saw the same birds I did last week, with more nesting raptors visible (red-tails, Great Horned Owls).

Took Thorp Rd. to E. Taneum Rd. over to the Thorp highway on the south side of I-90. Found some very nice, photogenic (or at least photographable) birds on this stretch of the trip, most exciting of which was the accidental find of some House Finches when I was turning the car around to go look at a hawk (RTHA). I THINK they were House Finches - please advise me if I'm in error :-) Also, while I'm thinking of it, please do the same for the merganser (Common) and the furry water rat (muskrat ?) that I took pics of at the Cle Elum RR ponds, inbetween taking shots of a group of Ring-Necked Ducks. AND, I'd love to know "Whose Scat is That?" on the road in the pic in the Pt. 1 album. All these photos can be viewed in the 3 albums linked below...

Final phase of the daylight part of my trip was to check out Berry Rd., the Woodhouse Loop Rd. and Canyon Rd. near them, and then, once again, I cruised up Umptanum Rd for a couple of Great Horned Owls and to listen for any Poorwills that might have shown up and be ready for some practice on their calls, but, no, none was to be so obliging. Instead, I had to be happy with a GHOW appearance on a pine tree in front of me - watched it fly there and perch for a few minutes. Nice way to end the day of fine finds !

Here are the links to my photos :
>
> Subject: links to 3 Flickr albums : Clellensburgian Deihlights Pt. 1, 2 & 3 - 4/9/15
>
> Pt. 1 - Closer to Cle : https://flic.kr/s/aHska2rEmb
>
> Pt. 2 - Thorp Hwy : https://flic.kr/s/aHsk9v9zrN
>
> Pt. 3 - Closer to Ellens. : https://flic.kr/s/aHska2tJyq


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

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