Today, Joseph Brown and I birded in the Cle Elum area. We were surprised to
see a male White-headed Woodpecker at the Northern Pacific Railroad Ponds,
close to the kiosk. I suspect that this is the same individual reported on
21 April by Jordan Gunn. If so, this bird has been in the area a while, and
we saw him drumming, so perhaps he is setting up a territory.
Interestingly, this woodpecker was color-banded. We couldn't get a good
look at the bands; all I could see was white on the left leg (probably
including the aluminum BBL band) and red on the right. This must be one of
Jeff Kozma's banded birds.
There was plenty of other bird activity at the ponds, even in the middle of
the day. A pair of Pygmy Nuthatches is nesting in a new snag, now that the
old one has fallen down. A Merlin flew over, and Yellow-rumped Warblers
were absolutely everywhere. Later, on Hwy 97, we saw a group of 12
disconsolate-looking Turkey Vultures in the trees, waiting out the rain.
But Turkey Vultures always look disconsolate, don't they?
Rachel Lawson
Seattle
rwlawson at q.com <mailto:
rwlawson at q.com>
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