Making a break for it! 5/27

Getting out the door

Well, hello traffic!

"It would be a lot easier for him to meet you after school than before, but let me know which is better for you.  It's your time."  The invitation from a parent whose son wanted to meet for some help after school...on Friday of Memorial Day Weekend!  I closed my eyes and thought of the cars lining up on I-90, opened them and typed back that I'd see him right after school.

Memorial Day Weekend can be pretty hairy when it comes to traffic, but it really wasn't all that long that we stayed after, and the drive over Snoqualmie was only an hour longer than usual.  Not bad at all!  

This spring had been bird free since an early April trip, and had been filled with the normal trials of teaching, plus extra time on evenings and weekends, as I'd volunteered to coach my kids' track team.  I was heavily looking forward to time to be out... alone... quiet.

Dinner on Friday evening outside of Cle Elum -I balked at the fried green beans.

Out...alone... quiet

The view from my campsite

The trip over was alone in my car, although there were a fair number of cars out on the road, of course, and there were a few I saw several times along the way!  I slipped off of I-90 at Cle Elum, and headed for Blewett Pass.  I'd been asking around about where to find owls, and had been sent to FR-7324, specifically the 800 spur, where there were sometimes Flammulated Owls and Common Poorwills. I love that it is nearly the first turn once entering Chelan County, and this is a road I hope I can get back to some day.

Williamson's Sapsucker

The road was easy driving, and I stopped every now and then to take a look at birds.  The sun was far from setting, so a handful of warblers, Cassin's Vireos and a few Hermit Thrushes serenaded me as I walked the road.  I heard drumming at one point, and followed it to find a Williamson's Sapsucker (115 - the parenthetical numbers representing the number of species that I'd found in Chelan County this year).   This is a code 2 bird, and was honestly one of the ones that has had me worried.  Worried is an odd word, though... I guess I just mean that... I'm a planner.  I love looking at the information out there and figuring out how to plan trips around the places where birds can be found.  I felt like this might be a bird that would plan to see me... or not plan to see me.  

I'm glad that it found me where I was, at any rate.  I snuck around trying to snap some pictures, and it tapped away oblivious to me, even flying nearly over my head on the way to another tree.  After I'd enjoyed it enough, I found a campsite not 100 yards away and decided it would be a nice place to settle in for the night. 

This spot...I'm swooning just thinking about how peaceful and gorgeous it was, perched just inside the Chelan County line, with the ridge dropping away on both sides of the road.  Light breezes, only occasional distant noises from trucks on 97 or a plane passing overhead.  Other birds added to the year list:  Hermit Thrush (116), MacGillivray's Warbler (117), Black-headed Grosbeak (118), Cassin's Vireo (119), Western Tanager (120), Western Wood-Pewee (121) and Chipping Sparrow (122).  I woke now and then during the evening/early hours, but heard no owls or poorwills.