Hi Tweets,


Paul and I joined Penny and David Koyama for an enjoyable trip up the
Columbia River Gorge Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Tuesday started
out at a cool 45 degrees and stayed that way all morning. We started in
Clark County hitting Ridgefield NWR for the auto tour route and walked the
Carty Unit. We saw many of the usual suspects, and enjoyed great looks at
WILSON?S SNIPE, COOPERS?S and SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS and numerous ducks. At
Steigerwald NWR we were pleased to find a handsome male RING-NECKED
PHEASANT and a flock of about 10 WESTERN MEADOWLARKS.


Entering Skamania County we used Wilson Cady?s recent reports and the
revised "Birder?s Guide to Washington". Our first stop was on Fitzgerald
Road where we surprised a WILSON?S SNIPE across from the farm buildings. We
hit the jack-pot at Franz Lake NWR, where we saw two GREAT EGRETS, a lone
SNOW GOOSE that flew in; a flock of BUSHTITS a Code 4 for the county; and a
large variety of ducks on the water including a huge number of TUNDRA SWANS.


On Wednesday, we birded Klickitat County. We started at Bingen Pond finding
a pair of RUDDY DUCKS. At Bingen Point David spotted a PILEATED WOODPECKER
in a tree that looked too small for the bird. At the mouth of the Klickitat
River we found the two SNOW GEESE that had been reported. We later found
them again further up the Klickitat River in a sheltered area with about 20
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, viewed from the Balfour-Klickitat Day Use
Area. The other highlight as we headed up the Columbia was a lone
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER close to shore with several Canada Geese at Maryhill
State Park. It was very windy that day making the birding quite difficult.


As we returned back through Skamania County that afternoon we stopped at
Rock Creek Lake in Stevenson. There were lots of ducks on the lake. We
found a beautiful EURASIAN WIGEON and Penny spotted a female BLACK SCOTER,
a Code 5 bird for the county.


An enjoyable two days of birding in a lovely part of the state.


Barbara Webster

Seattle WA
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