Yearlist and needs list - April edition

So part of the whole deal for me with this endeavor is numbers.  I think I've clarified before, that it's not the numbers by themselves, and in the end (wait on it here) it might not even be the birds (gasp!).  What I really love, and what I will not lose is the love of maps and new places.  Setting a goal like 200 species in a year means that I'll have to explore a bit more than many birders would.  If someone really was just interested in numbers, they'd probably just swing by the Places One Must Visit, and chase birds when they come, and not have to worry about driving up so many dangerous godforsaken and beautiful roads.  If someone really just loved the birds, they would just live life and go where they went and would notice the birds as they came, enjoying every bird even if it wasn't a new one on the list.

I really want to get to know this county and all of its nooks and crannies, so as I look ahead to the trips I have left (and it may not be monthly!  December is almost certainly out for any big trips, as I usually settle in for family time, so hopefully I'll hit 200 by then!), it takes a little planning.  Here are the birds I have, and the birds I have left in the 1-2-3's.

So here are the code 1-2 birds I have left:

Code 1 birds ("easy" birds, although it can be funny how that turns out!)

1. Spotted Sandpiper
2. California Gull (I have seen a total of three gulls this year... all Ring-billed)
3. Common Nighthawk
4. Calliope Hummingbird
5. Olive-sided Flycatcher
6. Western Wood-Pewee
7. Hammond's Flycatcher
8. Dusky Flycatcher
9. Western Kingbird
10. Eastern Kingbird
11. Cassin's Vireo
12. Warbling Vireo
13. Bank Swallow
14. Barn Swallow
15. House Wren
16. Swainson's Thrush
17. Hermit Thrush
18. Cedar Waxwing
19. Orange-crowned Warbler
20. MacGillivray's Warbler
21. Yellow Warbler
22. Townsend's Warbler
23. Chipping Sparrow
24. Western Tanager
25. Black-headed Grosbeak
26. Bullock's Oriole

Only three of those - Spotted Sandpiper, California Gull and Chipping Sparrow - have been seen this year, so I think I've done a decent job of picking up the common birds without even planning around them.  If I only found the rest of these, I'd be sitting at 140 for the year.  67 down, 26 to go, and nearly all of them would be possible on my next trip in late May.

Code Two birds:  These generally take a little bit of planning, but that planning will usually result in finding the bird in question, especially if that planning means multiple attempts!

1. Blue-winged Teal
2. Cinnamon Teal
3. Northern Pintail (okay, these guys have me stymied!  I've seen no reports at all this year!  No clue when and where to find them)
4. Dusky Grouse
5. Sooty Grouse (I know both of these grouse could be possible in some locations, so I'm going to work hard to spend time in areas where there ranges do not overlap, as identification may be a bit tricky otherwise)
6. Western Grebe
7. Northern Harrier (Haha.. very funny... where are you guys hiding... seriously???)
8. Least Sandpiper
9. Wilson's Snipe
10. Herring Gull (see California Gull above)
11. Caspian Tern
12. Northern Pygmy-Owl
13. Barred Owl
14. Common Poorwill
15. Black Swift
16. Vaux's Swift
17. Lewis' Woodpecker
18. Williamson's Sapsucker
19. White-headed Woodpecker (before you tell me, yes, I know the Sleeping Lady Resort is a good place for them!  I've made two visits)
20. Willow Flycatcher
21. Pacific-slope Flycatcher
22. Northern Shrike (missed it!  will have to try when winter months return)
23. Clark's Nutcracker
24. Horned Lark (not sure what their pattern of occurence is, honestly)
25. Chestnut-backed Chickadee
26. Brown Creeper
27. Veery
28. Gray Catbird
29. American Pipit
30. Bohemian Waxwing (see shrike)
31. Wilson's Warbler
32. Yellow-breasted Chat
33. Brewer's Sparrow
34. Savannah Sparrow (see lark)
35. Fox Sparrow (I will try for this one at high elevations during breeding)
36. Lincoln's Sparrow (same as Fox Sparrow)
37. Lazuli Bunting.

So if I "just" find all of these, along with the code 1 birds, I'd be at 177.  I've taken 32 code 2 birds off of this list so far this year, including a couple tricky ones!  It will be interesting to see which one or two give me trouble through the end of the year.  My money is on the waxwings!  Still, my planning won't be too terribly focused on these birds, relative to the code 3 birds out there.

Code 3 birds - Birds that are seen annually, but are not as easy to find as code 2's.  These are tough birds!

1. Pacific Loon (I may miss this one as a spring migrant, so I'll be hoping for them on the Columbia in mid-October to mid November)
2. Tundra Swan (also more likely as a fall migrant now, with an even smaller window.  I felt luck to find Trumpeters back in January on the Columbia!)
3.  Eurasian Wigeon (missed one early in the year.  Fingers crossed for the fall.)
4. Harlequin Duck (Icicle Creek and some other high elevation streams have these guys breeding.  It will take some planning and persistence, but they'll be out there.)
5. White-tailed Ptarmigan ("Sahale Arm" comes up for Chelan County, with several sightings along a ridge surrounding a lake.  There are also some spots down in the Enchantments, which might fit with a search for the Harlequins.  This would be a life bird for me!)
6. Eared Grebe (missed some by a day, darn it.  Although they do breed in Eastern Washington, that does not include, to my knowledge, anywhere in Chelan.  Fall migration - fingers crossed)
7. Northern Goshawk (year round and in Chelan, it can be just about anywhere, although high elevation clear cuts are classic habitat for them.  I won't try to find one.  Hopefully one will find me.)
8.  Rough-legged Hawk (winter bird that I missed.  For this one and goshawk, the fall migration might be productive up on Chelan Ridge)
9. Sandhill Crane (my best shot just passed with spring migration)
10. Western Sandpiper (probably fall migration)
11.  Greater Yellowlegs (I'll miss the spring migration, and will hope for fall.  This is sounding far too familiar!)
12. Wilson's Phalarope (has bred in a few spots in the last few years, notably around Lake Wenatchee)
13. Bonaparte's Gull (May and October, apparently.  I'd take any gull)
14. Glaucous-winged Gull (winter birds - maybe next winter, yeah?)
15. Band-tailed Pigeon (These slide over the Cascade Crest in the summer months.  I'll focus my efforts around Lake Wenatchee)
16. Flammulated Owl (A few good spots on either side of Highway 2. I'm looking forward to this search, as it should bring me into good habitat for a good handful of other birds)
17. Black-chinned Hummingbird (not a clue - hoping for feeder reports, honestly)
18. Anna's Hummingbird (same deal, obviously in winter, they would be easier to pick out! Other species will largely clear out by October)
19. Red-breasted Sapsucker (another Lake Wenatchee target, although they will also be mixed in with Red-naped and hybrids for the months to come)
20. Black-backed Woodpecker (excited for this search as well - recent burns on either side of Lake Chelan should be drivable by my next trip)
21. Peregrine Falcon (hmm... breeding pair on highway 97 near milepost 211?  I missed them, but will keep an eye out)
22. Gray Flycatcher (seems like there are a couple good spots for these south of Wenatchee)
23. Red-eyed Vireo (Closer to the crest in riparian areas.  For several of these passerines, my decent ears should help in finding them)
24. Common Yellowthroat (there are a few marshes worth checking.  Fish Lake and Wapato Lake come to mind.  Surprisingly tough to find!)
25. American Redstart (I'll follow sighting here and try to make some sightings if that fails)
26. Lark Sparrow (should be one of the easier three's.  I've had them on Apple Acres road before)
27. Yellow-headed Blackbird (see Common Yellowthroat)
28. Purple Finch (hmm... the similar songs I heard on my last trip all struck me as Cassin's.  Looking forward to hearing a really rich Purple Finch song.  The county seems to have these sprinkled around - especially on either side of highway 2)

So the code three birds would bring me to... 205.  Now, I'm not expecting to find all of these.  No way!  So far in three trips, I've found nine.  Three more on each trip would leave me a little short of 200.  Fortunately, I've been finding a good number of rarer birds as well, so I'm hopeful that those will help to fill out the missing pieces. Nearly 30 other species of shorebirds and gulls alone have wandered into Chelan, and there are a handful of code 4-5 birds (Spruce Grouse, Broad-winged Hawk, Boreal Owl, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Sage Thrasher, Gray-crowned Rosy Finch and White-winged Crossbill) where I would at least know what places to go and cross my fingers!

Thankfully, some of these overlap with other birds I'm looking for.  For example, in September, I plan to hit the Hawkwatch, which has possibilities for Rough-legged, Northern Harrier, Northern Goshawk, Broad-winged Hawk and Swainson's Hawk, although not all at the same time.  A trip to the county line may bring me Black-backed Woodpeckers and Dusky Grouse, while also holding the possibility of Spruce Grouse.

To some extent, the 3, 4 and 5 birds are all in the same bucket.  Figure out where your best odds are for finding them, and go look!  I have 14 birds from this group, and would need 23 more, assuming that I found all of the code 2 birds (ha!).  There are some excellent birders in different corners of the county, so I'm sure that some pretty unexpected birds will also get picked up (especially in that enormous group of gulls and shorebirds) that I might be able to follow up on during my trips.

So that's where it all sits!   If you have any thoughts as the year goes along, please drop me a message!

Spring Break birding day two: April 6th

Sleeping in??

Okay, sleep is for the weak, I had said once in this blog, but I was ahead of the game on owls after the previous morning.  With only Barred and Northern Pygmy- as real targets, I decided to catch up on sleep.  Nonetheless, I was up before the sun (just not several hours before the sun), and made my way directly to Entiat Valley Road.


Entiat Valley Road

The hotels keep setting me up with this stationery

Honestly, my main reason for choosing this road was a vague idea that I would be able to find some Ruffed Grouse up this road.  It was the right time of year, and there seemed to be a lot of pins from ebird.  The first time I got out of the car to listen - bingo!  What were the odds??  By the end of the trip up and down the road over the next few hours, I think it was at least half of them that had a Ruffed Grouse, (my 101st bird of the year for Chelan County - that's what the parenthetical numbers represent) except perhaps the far end of the road, where it started to get at a higher elevation.  It was always faint drumming, and generally hard to pinpoint, but there were probably 5-6 of them by the end of the morning.

I had been up this road maybe a quarter mile back in January, but it was clear right past Entiat and all the way up to Ardenvoir.  I will admit that this stands as my favorite city to say in Chelan County.  In Mason County, it was definitely Twanoh, and I usually said it like Keanau Reeves.  Ardenvoir... I'm not sure who I'm imitating, but it might have a little Southern in it.  The r's are certainly missing.  What an interesting storefront - a happy birthday greeting to one of the locals, a flier for a poker tournament for a young man with aortic stenosis (that one got me for a few moments, as that was the start of our son's heart problems), and a sign reminding passers-by of the Swallow Festival starting April 9th.  The store was closed on the way up and down, so I didn't have a chance to support the local economy.

Yeah... not doing that.

It was a quick drive up.  For the most part,  I was just scoping out spots to hit on the way down, while my main goal was to see how far up the road was still drivable.  I pulled over at one spot and my eyes got a little wide as I heard a Nashville Warbler (102) calling from across a field.  Five years ago, this would have confused me significantly, as I just hadn't heard that many warblers, but now I was confused because these guys weren't even on my list of target birds for the day.  I got a recording (good thing, as it was called into question by eBird reviewers, given that it was one of the earliest arrival dates in the state (although there had been one earlier report on the third of April near Cle Elum).

I continued up, nearly making it to Fox Creek Campground before I had to give it up.  The snowy patches (I drove through a few) had gotten to deep and too extensive so I parked on the side of the road and walked).  My first payoff was a pair of Gray Jays (103) a half mile or so up the road.  I was a little bummed that I didn't have food to offer them, but it was still a nice add for the year, and one of my favorite birds (my true favorite - Varied Thrush - provided the soundtrack for the morning).  A Belted Kingfisher was a nice surprise on the torrential Entiat River, as were a pair of Canada Geese later when I returned down the road.

I had lots of juncos and Red-breasted Nuthatches as I made my way back down the road, but one stop became productive very quickly!  I was scanning a field along the side of the road and thought I was on a Western Bluebird (104), when I realized that I was maybe hearing a White-breasted Nuthatch (105), when my thoughts on both of them were blown up by the raucous call of a Pileated Woodpecker (106).  I checked them off in a different order - getting a picture of the Pileated, then the bluebird, and then listening carefully to confirm the nuthatch.  Things were moving along fast during that minute!

Red-naped Sapsucker

Continuing down, I stopped at what is an absolutely lovely swamp.  I was surprised not to hear much more than Flickers and Ruffed Grouse (a junk bird at this point), when I heard a drumming back up the road.  I followed it all the way to a power pole and the culprit turned out to be a Red-naped Sapsucker (107).  Canyon Wrens were a surprise, calling from several points on the road.

The rest of the trip down the road was largely similar, with Pacific Wren (108) and Rufous Hummingbird (109) coming with a few more stops.  I gassed up and got a Mexican Mocha in Entiat before continuing on up the Columbia towards Chelan.

Scour the blogs out there.  You will find no picture of a Western Bluebird that is quite equal to this one. (thank god)

Oklahoma Gulch

One of my favorite pictures from the trip:  Oklahoma Gulch

I followed an eBird pin for Savannah Sparrow here.  It was a cool little road with a lot of dry habitat on one side, and brushy riparian stuff on the other.  It seems that it would take me to Navarre Coulee Road if I continued, but I only went far enough to find some new sparrows - a pair of Vesper Sparrows (110), refusing to sing for me, but giving enough looks at field marks and listens to calls to narrow them down.  If Savannah proves to be a problem down the road, I may return!  I had Chelan County at 110 life birds before this year, and did it without a Savannah Sparrow.  Now my year list hit 110, and I was still missing them.  I see what you did there, Savannah Sparrow.  No worries.

Townsend's Solitaire - Oklahoma Gulch

Wapato Lake

Lake Chelan in April

Wapato Lake

Okay, I didn't really make any other "stops" per se, but I did accidentally end up in a private development where I was able to see the shores of Lake Chelan as I was trying to turn around.  My binoculars showed me a pair of Gadwall (finally!  111) on the shores, and having the windows down gave me my first Brown-headed Cowbird (112) of the year. My Wapato Lake targets included Northern Pintail (nope - where are they??), Cinnamon Teal and Blue-winged Teal (no and no - maybe too early), but I did find one other bird that I suspected I'd have to look for down at Beebe Springs - Marsh Wren (113).  It was a code 3 bird and I found myself sitting quite well for the day and for the trip and the year.  I went back down the road to Manson and sat down at Wapato Point Cellars.


Reset


My wife and I used to be wine club members here.  I know... it's pretty far away from Renton, but we had been in a habit of making nearly annual winter trips to Chelan, and we really did love the wines here.  I tried some different wines, and decided to buy a bottle of Red Delicious  - a blend that tips its hat to the apple industry all through the county.  I drank a glass of it while I tried to make sure I knew what my tally was, and tried to figure out what the heck I could even possibly need at this point that I might have a reasonable chance of finding at this time of year on this end of the county.

The couple and their friend finished up their tasting and made their way out of the tasting room with a few bottles in totes.  Being almost clinically unable to keep myself from talking to people, I asked the woman behind the tasting room bar, "So... having a better year than last year?".  The obvious reference was to the fires from the summer of 2015, which had threatened homes all the way into the towns of Chelan and Manson themselves, in addition to the trouble up in Okanogan County.  Many of the towns hotels and restaurants simply had to shut down, as it wasn't safe or healthy to be in a town clouded with smoke from fires knocking on their door.

This was part of the reason that I came to Chelan this year - to help a county that had been hit hard financially.  It was an interesting response from the woman.  By her reckoning, the town had kind of welcomed a little hiccup in business.  Although it brings in money, I think the tourist season brings in a pace of living that many of the people in these communities don't exactly prefer over normal operating conditions.  She's happy to see the business coming back, but it appears to have been a nice break in a way.

It's almost like the communities themselves mirror what happens in nature.  I mean... what animal doesn't like plants, right?  But when vegetation gets thick, when the understory gets cluttered and the leaf litter starts to pile up like kindling... it's time to reset.  Fire is hard, but the land recovers, and apparently the resilient people will as well.

But back to the conversation:  I let her know what my plans were fot the year, and angled it into questions about where the burns were specifically, because... you know... Black-backed Woodpeckers, man!  They love recent burns, and if I don't find some this year, I'm either unlucky, dumb or both.  Apparently, the drive up to Twenty Five Mile Creek State Park (one of the ports for the Lady of the Lake, which runs all the way up to Stehikin) would take one through some of the fire zone, as would the drive up to Cooper Mountain.

"Cooper Mountain is still snowed in" she explained, "but...".  The rest of her sentence led to some notes on how to get to "Goat Mountain".  Now... I may have screwed this up, but I left thinking that I would be getting into some good high elevation burns that were publicly accessible.  I left with Goat Mountain as the last thing on my to-do list for the trip.

Are you lost...?

Maybe a little lost...

Okay, I made it to Apple Acres Road. This is a nice bit of habitat where I have had some good birds like Lark Sparrow, which I'll need sometime down the road.  I had written down "Antoine Creek Road", which may have originally come from a sentence like "Don't go down Antoine Creek Road".  I went up it and soon found myself in Okanogan County.  I looked at the map and returned.  A short way up the road brought me to Washington Creek Road.  This was also on my list, so I followed it as far as it would take me.

Part of the 2015 burns - Sawtooth Ridge near Washington Creek

I made it through some burns without even going too far up the road.  It was nice to see things a bit cleared out, and also to see homes intact.  I continued up the road and eventually found myself too far up the road.  I backed up the car and tried another bit of gravel, quickly finding that it was a driveway.  Ugh...  As I turned the car around, a four wheeler came tearing up through the driveway towards me, blocking my way out.  I got to meet the neighbors - yay!

Burn near Washington Creek

It took a minute to clarify what I was doing and where I was trying to get to, but in the end the retired fella that had stopped me on the four-wheeler was in a lovely conversation with me.  We covered damn near everything.  The fires ("This was my fire truck - this, a tank of water, and a shovel"), birds (A family of Great Horned Owls who were intent on eating his cat, a House Wren that nested in some of his pipes, Mountain Bluebirds that had just arrived), hunting (by agreement, no hunting of the turkeys that had recently arrived in the area, as the neighbors all thought it best to let them establish themselves).

The year so far

We even talked about the school where I teach (Kentwood - go Conks!).  His dad apparently worked on building the school.  We also talked about the fire ecology unit we teach at the end of the year.  Apparently, they are doing a better job of managing the fires now, rather than suppressing them as they used to.  For decades, the rule of thumb was to get a fire out by the following morning.  Those policies have led to unhealthy forests which are now starting to recover.

I ended the conversation with a suggestion that I return on a future visit to see what birds he's got on his property.  I was jealous when I heard his four wheeler could take him from this end of the Sawtooth Ridge to Union Valley Road on a near straight shot.  As I made my way back towards Apple Acres Road, Chelan County threw one more bird at me:  A Mountain Bluebird (114).

I went home via Orondo to grab some donuts and cider before heading back to my home and family in Renton.

Spring break birding Part one: April 5th

Spring Break!

This year, I had a week off from school, and not the same week as the kiddos.  It's hard, because we can't plan big family trips on years like this, but the upside is more time free for birding trips.  I took advantage of it and headed out for a couple days in Chelan.

On my way in, I didn't have any solid plans for lodging, wanting to see what the weather and circumstances brought my way.  I got into the county on Monday late afternoon, and as soon as I was over Blewett Pass, I started thinking about heading up into the Wenatchee Mountains.  I made three stops in all by the time morning was up, grabbing some sleep in my car, and finding some nice owls in the process, including Northern Saw-whet (called for and got), Spotted (got while calling for Barred), and Great Horned (actively calling) Owls.  If you read on, you won't find anything pinning down where I had the Spotted Owls, sorry!  I will talk about the roads I hit, however, and it was many miles of them!  The Spotted and Saw whet were my 82nd and 83rd birds for the year, incidentally - I'll keep that tally going in parentheses the rest of the way out.

Camas Meadows road from the end of the public part

Camas Meadows was my first stop as the sun was dropping.  This road was clear for as high up as I wanted to take it, and I am really excited to get back here for some serious passerine birding at another time.  This is a spot that is reputed to have Flammulated Owls (too early for them this year), and Common Poorwills.  Those two species are ones I had nearly ten years ago as I was just starting to record my county birds, but were on the other side of the Wenatchee Mountains, just above Ellensburg near Table Mountain.  Having two life birds in one night was pretty exciting!  Camas Meadows isn't far from there, so it makes sense that they would be findable here.  There are also a lot of flycatchers to be found here, and I just realized that I haven't seen any birds in Chelan that rhyme with shmycatcher.  Sure, I have both kingbirds, and Say's Phoebe, which are all in the flycatcher family, but there are a lot of species still to find!  I'll be back for sure.

In between here, I stopped at "The Club" in Cashmere, where Villanova and North Carolina had a magical finish.  Nice to hit kind of a dive for a burger and cheering the game with the locals. 

Mission Ridge Ski area at night

Mission Creek Road above Cashmere was one I read about in "Birder's Guide to Washington", and I followed the road all the way to Sand Creek, expecting a campground at the end of the road, but finding only a trailhead.  Up the trail, there are numerous species of owls that have been found, so this was an important stop to make in April, when so many of them are actively calling. The road to Sand Creek was pretty heavily occupied by trailers and mobile homes, some appearing abandoned.  It's been interesting to see with a county that has slightly larger towns than Mason that the haves and have nots seem to have more distance between them.

My final attempt of the night was up the road to Mission Ridge Ski area from Wenatchee.  This road would be clear, I figured, and there were a number of good spots to stop and call and listen, although I would have enjoyed a little less river noise!  There are... I think... four ski areas in Chelan County, and this was only the first I'd been to, but I think at least two others will be on my list as the year plays out.

Spotted Owls

These birds have had a hard time with a loss of old-growth habitat, and I had to simply give up looking for them in Mason County last year, but on the East side, it's a slightly different story.  While they are losing nesting sites to Barred Owls for sure, there are still some nesting pairs out there, and this was the third time I had run into a Spottie in Chelan (although never anywhere else, and never intentionally!). 

One of these encounters was fairly close to Stevens Pass, and I learned that Spotted Owls have been able to make do with marginal habitat in several cases in Washington.  In this case, moving upslope cut down on some of the competition with Barred. They are declining in the Wenatchee Mountains, but April is not a bad time to catch them calling. I was bummed that it was a Barred Owl call that brought the four note responses, but I honestly am never really expecting Spotted Owls when I'm out.

Nahahum Canyon

I wanted to try this road on the recommendation of Debbie Sutherland, who pointed out that it makes a nice drive all the way to where it connects with Swakane Canyon when the weather permits. The day started with loud Chukars on the hillside.  While my ears are pretty good, these are somehow birds that I've seen more than heard!  In the morning hours they were making quite a ruckus.  I also added a few birds on the way up, including Cassin's Finch (84), Western Meadowlark (85), and Brewer's Blackbirds (86), which were plentiful at a particular farm.  Say's Phoebes provided much of the rest of the soundtrack of the morning. 

I'll admit, the Cassin's Finch song is temptingly like a Purple Finch.  I guess they're similar enough to compare to each other, but different enough to distinguish.  Almost like hearing Darrell Hammond do Bill Clinton's voice, then hearing Bill Clinton.  Close... but not quite the same thing.  Nice try, though, Cassin's Finch.

Find the turkeys!

As I got closer to the top, I found, failed to identify and drove past the intersection for Swakane Canyon.  I actually stopped there to look around and just find the most drivable road (it had just gotten muddy).  As I looked around the Ponderosa Pines, hoping to find some nuthatches or woodpeckers, I spied another new year bird - Wild Turkey! (87).  The pair meandered away up the hill and I continued.  I honestly didn't go much further, as I started to worry about the quality of the road, and the opportunities to turn around.  Varied Thrushes were calling all around me when I did the eleven point turn to head back down the hill. 

The "wide" part of the road where I whipped a U turn... ish

Peshastin Pinnacles State Park

I made this stop thinking that I would be able to pick up White-throated Swifts, which had been reported this year, and which I had seen here before.  Turkey Vultures (88), made it a double turkey morning for me, and I hiked up the sandy path.  Sandy!  The spires themselves are made of sandstone, and I'm looking forward to going over all of this with my rock-nerd coworker in the science department back at Kentwood.

Sandstone of the Peshastin Pinnacles - Swift nest at left

White-throated Swift returning to nest.  Climbing ropes above

These trees were in a lot of different places during the day.  The fragrance was staggeringly lovely.

Eventually, I did start to hear the high twittering sound of swifts, and found that it was coming from one of the openings in the sandstone.  Two of them came rocketing out of the opening, so I trained my camera on it and kept firing away until I got them returning.  More were calling from inside, and it was interesting to see the climbing ropes passing right alongside them.  This is a major attraction for climbers, so I wonder how well they tolerate the disturbance. The swifts, of course, made it 89 for the year, and an Osprey nest made it 90.  I know they're back in the state, but I need to make the quick stop with the kids at the local one - a simple two miles from our home.  It's always fun this time of year to see them returning giant branches to the nest sites.

Cashmere STP

mmmm... sewage

I had always had a hard time finding this spot until Ken Hemberry showed it to me back in January.  It was pretty busy today, as I found Mallards and Wood Ducks (91), along with three species of swallows:  Tree (92), Violet-green (93) and quite a few Northern Rough-winged (94).  It is supposed to be a good place to find shorebirds in migration, although of course the only ones there today were a couple of Killdeer.

Colockum Road

Apples above the Columbia - Colockum Road

 From Cashmere, I headed straight past Wenatchee and turned south, taking the road along the Columbia, and eventually up into the hills.  There are several species of sage-loving birds that are tough to find in Chelan.  Sagebrush Sparrows haven't even been found five times in the county, but I figured that Brewer's or Vesper Sparrows might be hanging about, or maybe even a rarer Sage Thrasher.   The Meadowlarks in the sage gave some weird buzzy calls that briefly had me thinking that they were Brewer's Sparrows, but I figured them out.  Moments after the disappointment, a Prairie Falcon (95) soared in and dropped into the sage to grab a meal.

Loggerhead Shrike

I was pretty excited to find a code three bird, and started to drive further up the road.  Shrike.  Shrike??  Shrike!   The gray and black bird perched on a bush grabbed my attention and I wheeled the car around.  I was missing Northern Shrike for the year, although it seemed like better habitat for Loggerhead, which was just starting to show up in the state.  Sure enough - Loggerhead Shrike (96).  It sang back and forth with my phone, and I was amazed at how pretty these fairly savage birds sound.  It perched for a few pictures and then disappeared into the distance.

Colockum Road...ish

Continuing up the road, I... You know, I'm not even sure if I stayed on Colockum.  It got a little hinky with the signage, and my bearings, so after rounding a few beautiful corners and picking up one more new year bird (Yellow-rumped warbler - 97), I called it a day and returned to Wenatchee.  This is a road I'd like to hit again, as people have had Boreal Owl up on Colockum Pass.  I'm curious about how close that is to the county line...

The Wenatchee Waterfront

Two!  Whoa...

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Making up names for this stretch of three contiguous "parks" has made me weary, so I'll stick with this name for now. I walked the entire length of them and back - something approaching three hours, and came up with a bird list that was very different from what I expected!  I had hoped for gulls, and finally saw two gulls!  It was just a pair of Ring-billed Gulls, which doubled my previous high count of one Ring-billed Gull in the county this year, but still... wow. (California were seen a day or two later).  I also found a lot of Horned Grebes in various states of plumage (Eared were found a day or two earlier), and a Greater White-fronted Goose that is somehow still hanging around (Snow was found a few days later).

Osprey and Osprey food

An Osprey carrying a pretty large fish was one highlight of the walk, as well as two new year birds:  Cliff Swallow (98) and a long-awaited and very unexpected Red Crossbill (99).  American Wigeon were still plentiful, but it would seem that the Eurasian that was seen early in the year has long departed. The other species of note was Yellow-rumped Warbler, as there were a ton of them throughout the park, especially when I got to the campground for the state park. 

Evening and 100

Birder notes and birder food

Okay, it was late afternoon, but I was winding down, after having stayed up much of the night before.  I stopped at Chateau Faire le Pont just off of highway 2, because of course, red wine would help me decide which way to proceed.  In the end, I got a room at the Economy Inn, showered (ahhhh) and zipped back out. I tried for a Peregrine Falcon on Highway 97, but couldn't locate it this time - hopefully they nest and can be found in the future.  The last bird of the day was on Swakane Canyon Road - a pair of Mourning Doves (100).

I was surprised to see the Public Market sign lit up a la Seattle  - Wenatchee at sunset

Before the sun was even set, I was sitting down in Wenatchee at McGlinn's Pub, enjoying good food and a pint of IPA before heading to a very comfortable bed in a dark hotel room where I slept early and hard.

February Birding with Black - Day two (February 19th)

Sleep is for the weak

Thanks for this, Comfort Inn!

It's February, and I'm of a belief that one should get owls while one can.  I had emailed back and forth with Dan Stephens from Wenatchee on where to go, and his advice was No. Two Canyon south of Wenatchee.  Kevin and I hit the road early and started our search for owls.   It was interesting how different Kevin and I approached the whole thing.  As I mentioned in the last post, Kevin knows habitat.  As we ascended the road and slowly made our way out of town, I was inclined to make a lot more stops, but Kevin passed on many, pointing out features that weren't really suitable for some of our targets.  I would have been inclined to stop every half-mile or so, and to methodically call for small owls before working up to larger ones, but that may very well have left us out there a lot longer and missing good habitat. 

We did a bit of a hybrid of the two methods, and it worked out fairly well!  Our first owl was a Great Horned at lower elevations, making an odd nasal vocalization.  We left that owl behind by a few miles and started to get into habitat that looked better for some smaller owls.  We were pretty excited when we came across a calling Western Screech-Owl! (my 76th species in the county for the year) We listened and recorded the bouncy ball song before continuing up a little higher.  The road essentially ended, and the area looked a little sketchy, so we made our way back to the hotel for breakfast.

Wallhoranatchee State Natural Parkfluence Point Area

Flickers at a nest box

At some point, I know I'll get a letter from the people that represent this (these?) park(s), "Dear Mr. Brennan.  Thank you for your patronage of Wenatchee and its wonderful parks.  We are concerned, however that your posts may cause confusion for anyone attempting to visit..."   That discussion will end well, I'm hoping, and we can give this one continuous park one name, perhaps.  Kevin and I hit the park after some very much needed coffee, and watched the park slip from astronomical twilight into civil twilight, while we searched for a Barn Owl.

We had no luck, and I wondered if the one that had been reported early in the year had simply moved along.  We scanned the waterfowl, failing also to find any Eurasian Wigeon mixed in with the many American Wigeon.  The Greater White-fronted Goose that has been hanging about was still there, and still associating with its enormous cousin, a Graylag Goose.  Gadwall... also a miss.

Graylag, Canada, and Greater White-fronted Geese

We continued from Walla Walla Point Park northward to where it transitioned into Wenatchee Confluence State Park (with no mention of Horan Natural Area, which is also noted on maps), and I did start to pick up some new year birds:  Downy Woodpecker (77), Killdeer (78), Ring-necked Pheasant (79), and finally a pair of Bewick's Wrens (80).  Bewick's Wrens are pretty commonplace on the west side, but particularly tough to find in Chelan and some other neighboring counties.  It was easy to pick out the familiar song, and we did eventually get some nice views.  Kevin dutifully inspected  copses of trees for Long-eared Owls to no avail.  We tromped back to the car, scoped the dock from the State Park end of things, and then made a little detour.

A little detour

The Orondo Cider Works is a regular stop for my family and me when we are passing through this area.  We love the apple cider donuts, the fresh cider, and the apples.  I grabbed a veritable apple feast and sat with Kevin while we recovered from the long morning.  Some food helped, and Kevin even lifted some of his vegan restrictions for the sake of the donuts.

Back to Chelan

We returned to Chelan County, hitting a neighborhood in search of a hummingbird feeder (no luck), before we made our last stop in Cashmere.  We visited Debbie Sutherland's yard, finding her home, but sadly without full finch feeders.  Disease in the local finch populations necessitated the taking down of feeders.  Although we didn't find the Lesser Goldfinches that had been residents in her yard for well over a year, we did land on one more good find - a flock of Pine Grosbeaks (81) right on Pioneer Avenue.   I would have had a mother of a time picking these silent birds out without Kevin there, and in the end we got some good pictures of them. 

Pine Grosbeaks - Cashmere (photo Kevin Black)

We made our final stop at the nursing home down the street.  I have a standing invitation to visit their feeders and have a cup of coffee.  Today when we arrived, there were no birds at the feeders, "But you've got a couple of nice birds to look at here!"  One of the women pointed out with a nudge.  Kevin and I had some lovely conversation with them, but made sure to make a break for the door with our faithfulness intact! 

The trip ended a little early, but I came away with 81 species for the year, and a handful of very special birds indeed.  

February 18th - Midwinter birds with Black

On the road - picture taken by a happy passenger

As promised

I made a promise to produce some extremely tardy posts for this, and WOW, almost two months later is what I would call "Mission Accomplished".   The week of February 15-19 was mid-winter break for me, so I took the last two days of it to make a run to Chelan County with Kevin Black.

Kevin and I have been birding together off and on for three years or more, including King, Mason, Yakima, Benton, Klickitat, Franklin, Walla Walla, Grant and Okanogan Counties.  We've helped each other with the little corners we know well - he helped me grab my 100th bird in Franklin, where he holds the Big Year record, and I helped him find his 100th in King, where I live.  Both of us had been through Chelan now and then but have spent very little focused time birding in the county before this year.

Eaaaaarlllyyy

Unlike this post, the birding day started quite early for Kevin and I.  He left Vancouver dark and early, and we made it almost to Chelan when it started to get light.  A few Kittitas birds caught our eye, and we spent an awful lot of time staring at a Bald Eagle trying to turn it into a Golden Eagle.  Kevin... poor silly optimistic kid... We also trudged up a snowpacked trail, occasionally dropping in through the surface up to our knee.

"Golden Eagle".  It wasn't the first time that Kevin called it out for the day.  It was the first time he was right, though, and not the last!  We watched a bird that would have escaped my attention so easily, getting glimpses of it and photos before it slipped away.  Sure enough, it was a Golden Eagle!  These birds are a code 2 in Chelan, so they aren't as common as crows, and not as rare as Spotted Owls.  I don't get to see them all that often, so it was a very nice find.  "64!"  I smiled, finally adding to the year tally.  This is exactly why I love having Kevin along.  He has an excellent eye, not only for birds but for habitat. 

Golden Eagle! - Photo Kevin Black

We continued up the road and arrived at the...

Leavenworth Fish Hatchery


This turned out to be a nice bit of a walk, and it didn't take long for it to be productive.  One of the species we were looking for was Barrow's Goldeneye.  Two of them circled the parking lot as we entered!  (65)   We were given directions at the visitor center regarding trail use.  During the winter, the hatchery grounds are used for cross-country skiing.  Although it wasn't an absolute flurry as it was last time I had visited, the trails were still well covered in snow and in use.  Kevin and I worked our way along the river to stay off of the grooves the skiers had created along the trail.  At a bridge looking down into Icicle Creek, we found an American Dipper (66) and finally a Great Blue Heron (67).  There may be easy places to find these dinosaurs in Chelan County, but I don't know of them yet.

Barrow's Goldeneye - Photo Kevin Black

"Golden Eagle"  Kevin called again.  "Wait... three."   We sat and watched three of these birds circling over the river for a few minutes, gradually rising and then disappearing over the ridge towards Highway 97.  We had been noting just earlier that you can't beat a Golden Eagle, but the discussion now of course turned to the fact that three Golden Eagles obviously beats one.  The steam kettle call of a Varied Thrush broke into our conversation, reminding us of course that nothing really beats a Varied Thrush, right?



Sleeping Lady Resort
 

Typical view that morning near Leavenworth

We made our way in and grabbed some coffee and provisions, asking one of the employees if the White-headed Woodpeckers had been seen lately.  "Oh, I think that they are a spring bird, sir!" we were told.  Kevin and I raised eyebrows at each other.  I had explained to him how helpful the staff here was, and how knowledgeable they are about the woodpeckers.  A second try did the trick, as we found an older gentleman who knew that they were year-round 'They were around until the heavy snow hit." He explained, "But they'll be back".

Kevin and I walked the grounds, picking up a Pygmy Nuthatch (68) as we did.  Three species of nuthatches can be found in Chelan pretty regularly.  With Pygmy found in addition to Red-breasted, I just had to keep an ear out for the nasal calls of the White-breasted ones.  We drove farther up Icicle Creek trying for Northern Pygmy Owl without luck.  On the way back into Leavenworth, we had some nice luck with a Common Redpoll seen perched in a tree near some residences.

May I say

That an awful lot of the county is filled with some really loud rivers.  As an ear birder, it's a challenge!  I spent last year in Mason County, where the one major river is the Skokomish, a slow moving river in most stretches, and calmed by a light year of snowpack in the Olympics.  Every river in Chelan County seems to be an absolute torrent. 

While writing this, my thoughts went to an old friend, Monty Carter, who was lost in the Wenatchee River five years back.  He was always a kid at heart, and what kids do is take their shoes off and jump into the river for a swim.  If you read this and want to throw some thoughts and/or prayers my way for a safe year of travel, I'd appreciate the sentiment.

Okay, back to birds!

The Columbia

Kevin and I hit the Columbia next, skipping right over Cashmere and Wenatchee.  My thoughts for the year are to view the Columbia in the afternoons whenever I can, just for the lighting.  The day had largely gotten away from us, so we needed to get on some water birds.  As we scoped for them from a pullout near Rocky Reach Dam, we got Horned and Pied-billed Grebes, Common Loons, and a lot of nice noise from the hillside behind us.   Canyon Wren (69), Say's Phoebe (70) and Ruby-crowned Kinglet (71) all called from the cliffs and surrounding brushy areas. 

Canyon Wren is listed as a code three bird, so it was quite welcome.  All of the code 1-2 birds (relatively easy to find/common) in the county add up to 161, which leaves 40 birds or so that I'll need to find that are on the tougher side if I'm going to reach the goal of 200 birds for the year.  Maybe even more than the running total, this side total will give me an idea of how things are going as the seasons move along.

Townsend's Solitaire - Photo Kevin Black

We took a brief run up Swakane Canyon Road, and found a Townsend's Solitaire (72).  Not a difficult bird in terms of its code, but I will admit that I rarely expect.  I love the whole thrush family, and this is one member that I don't have totally figured out in terms of habitat.  Better for it to find me than for me to try to find it!   We picked through a pretty significant sparrow patch, but got nothing outside of the usual zonotrichia sparrows and a few juncos.

Chelan-ish
 

Chelan Gorge Road

American Kestrel - Photo Kevin Black

In Chelan, we took a road I'd never hit before, following up on sightings for Bohemian Waxwings and Prairie Falcon.  The Chelan Gorge road heads Southeast out of town and gives a nice view of the Chelan River far far below.  We made few stops as we drove, honestly just looking for anything that looked like waxwing habitat.  We found a Merlin on the way, and at one stop listened to a Rock Wren (73) making its buzzy calls from the nearby talus.

"Sunset's in an hour, Kev..." I warned, looking at the handy app on my phone.  We wondered where the day had gone, and tried to figure out what our last targets should be for the day.  We drove up into Chelan, and back down to the Columbia on the other side (the highway does not continue along the Columbia during this stretch), where we made our way to Beebe Springs.  We scanned the little ponds in vain for Gadwall that had been sighted there, and continued up to a large beaver pond where Virginia Rail has been reported.  We both tried our best imitations of rails, and got one to respond (74).  This is another tough bird in the county, as there just isn't a lot of marshy habitat as the mountains drop down to the Columbia.

Ducks on the lake, light holding on

Wapato Lake was the next destination, and we found some good birds!  The numbers were pretty impressive, and I was happy to add Greater Scaup (75) at long last.  This is one of those rare occasions where I'll just drop in a link to the eBird report, as the stop was simply so productive.


Wapato Lake - February 18th

Union Valley Road at Dusk

We sat there looking over the lake... looking at the time... looking at the daylight holding on somehow.  Puzzled, I looked at my phone, and realize that the handy dandy sunrise/sunset app was still set for the last date I had used it in January.  Sheepishly, I thumbed it forward to the current date, and we enjoyed the fact that we had more twilight to work with.

Dinner in Chelan

With the remnants, we went up to Union Valley Road, taking it farther than I had in January.  We had hopes of owls, but came up empty, turning around at a high spot and enjoying the view of the lake before heading back down for the evening. 

Dinner at Tin Lilly (good food!) and then off to bed at the Comfort Inn in Wenatchee.