Today, Les Carlson and I did some birding in Skamania County, starting at my home where we had 1 HUTTON'S VIREO, 2 BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS and a TOWNSEND'S WARBLER. We then checked Fitzgerald Road, on the border with Clark County, and found well over a hundred sparrows along the road, in descending numbers were: GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW, SAVANNAH SPARROW, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, SONG SPARROW and one LINCOLN'S SPARROW. At the north end of the road a NORTHERN HARRIER crossed over from Clark County. We then headed for the St. Cloud Recreation Area where in about 45 minutes we saw at least 100 AMERICAN ROBINS flying west, down the Columbia River. Standing there in this old orchard we commented on the steady flow of STELLER'S JAYS that were silently passing overhead, all headed East up the Columbia River, so I began to count them and in a twenty minute period the number reached 336 birds! When we left there were still more birds coming. From the Franz Lake NWR overlook we could see 1 GREAT EGRET, 19 NORTHERN PINTAIL and 8 AMERICAN WIGEON. At Skamania Landing and Doetsch Pond the number of waterfowl is increasing with over 120 AMERICAN WIGEON, 20 RING-NECKED DUCKS, 12 GADWALL, 6 GREEN-WINGED TEAL and 12 MALLARDS.


Wilson Cady
Columbia River Gorge, WA