Subject: [Tweeters] Umptanum Road/North Wenas Road/Audubon Road
Date: Apr 22 21:50:06 2015
From: Blair Bernson - blair at washingtonadvisorygroup.com


I spent a very pleasant several hours birding
along Umptanum (Umtanum) Road, North Wenas Road
and Audubon Road today. special treat was
bumping into Richard Repp who really knows the
area from his Bluebird survey work.

Very birdy today. In addition to the many
Bluebirds (36 Western and 6 Mountain - at least)
there was a major movement of White Crowned
Sparrows - well over 40 in the sage, plus two
Vesper, two Chipping (apparently unusual now) and
at least a dozen Brewer's Sparrows. I also had a
beautiful Barn Swallow in the sage which Ebird
also says is rare. There were Yellow Rumps
everywhere and at Umtanum Falls trail there were
3+ Nashville Warblers and possibly a
MacGillivray's. Also on that trail were at least
3 or 4 singing House Wrens which again Ebird
called "rare".

The highlight for me was finding a pair of White
Headed Woodpeckers at "Kindle Lane" along North
Wenas. I had a pair there twice last year but
missed twice this year. At the same spot was a
single Chipping Sparrow plus 5 White Breasted
Nuthatches - definitely a very lovely little
bird. Later along Audubon Road - before getting
to the rough dirt part, there were two Western
Kingbirds - thanks to Richard for that tip.

I am working on an ID for two empids seen today -
one at Umtanum Falls trail and another at Kindle Lane.

Finally just as a fun part of the day, I had 5
thrushes: American Robin, Hermit Thrush, Mountain
Bluebird, Western Bluebird and Townsend's Solitaire.

It got very windy late in the day and despite
driving many miles of appropriate habitat, no Long
Billed Curlews found in Ellensburg area.

--
Blair Bernson
Edmonds