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March 15, An evening visit to Post Office Lake by Ken Knittle produced 1 SHORT-EARED OWL.
March 17, Ken Knittle checked the Ridgefield NWR around midday and found 52 species including a GREATER YELLOWLEGS at the photo blind. CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, BROWN CREEPER, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, PINE SISKIN and AMERICAN GOLDFINCH were among the others species encountered. After a tree planting work day a the Steigerwald Lake NWR a pair of WHITE-TAILED KITES circled over the group of volunteers during our wrap-up discussion.
March 18, Susan and I birded up the Gorge to look for migrants and early spring wildflowers. The best birds we found were a pair of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS at the Tidyman Road ponds at Dallesport in Klickitat County. The flowers were just starting to bloom with Grass Widows covering some fields.
March 20, The RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER continued at Clark College according to Ray Korpi. Singing WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS had materialized on campus indicating the return of the pugetensis race, our breeding sub-species.
March 21, George Mayfield and I spotted a NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW at the Steigerwald Lake Refuge while marking out planting areas for a upcoming work party.
March 24, Three adult and one juvenile BALD EAGLES were seen on Discovery Trail off of Bernie Road and Fruit Valley Road by young birders, Chyanne and Shawna. They were concerned that these majestic birds are they are protected and are being tracked.
March 25, Mary Frances Mathis, Matt Bartels, Paul & Barbara Webster, and Ryan Merrill spotted 6 DUNLIN, which are rare in Skamania County. While noticing that their black bellies were beginning to fill in, a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE flew into a nearby tree, this was a first sighting for Skamania County. Further to the west at the St. Cloud Ranch they had a short view of a nice-looking white-stripe WHITE-THROATED SPARROW with quite a few Golden-crowned Sparrows. Al Larrabee reported seeing an OSPREY was flying up and down Lake River at the River S Unit of the Ridgefield Refuge and that the Savannah sparrows were back.
March 30, My first of the year COMMON YELLOWTHROAT was a male at Steigerwald Lake.
March 31, A TRUMPETER SWAN and a male EURASIAN WIGEON were among the birds I found at Steigerwald when delivering plants for the weekend work party.
April 4, Jim Danzenbaker found a single LINCOLN'S SPARROW on his back deck in Battle Ground, a COMMON YELLOWTHROAT was chipping in the open space beyond and several RED CROSSBILLS flew over. A migrant GREATER YELLOWLEGS was at his pond, shorebirds should be moving through in large numbers by the time this newsletter is sent out.
April 5, Galeon Schoenthal reported finding a YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD at the River S Unit of the Ridgefield Refuge. This is one of the few west of the Cascades nesting locations for these interesting and colorful birds. It is a treat to listen to their unique calls in the spring.
April 6, Jim Danzenbaker was watching the pond at his Battle Ground residence when 2 AMERICAN BITTERNS flew in to check it out and kept moving on, later a single bird did come in and set down. The GREATER YELLOWLEGS that had been there for a couple of days was joined by five more that were more vocal. Two EVENING GROSBEAKS flew over and a WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were also present.
Roger Windemuth, who volunteers at the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge reports seeing a nice selection of returning migrants in the first week of April. Birds reported included 1 REDHEAD, 4 CANVASBACK, LESSER YELLOWLEGS, WESTERN WOOD PEWEE, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, SWAMP SPARROW, YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD and BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD.
People finally started seeing PINE SISKINS coming to their feeders after a paucity of these birds for the last two winters. LESSER GOLDFINCHES continue to visit Carol Peterson's feeders and a TOWNSEND'S WARBLER was at Gretchen Starke's suet feeder.
George and Cindy Mayfield found a NORTHERN SHRIKE at the River S Unit along with about 40 other species during a visit there.
While kayaking on the Columbia River near Ridgefield, Francis Linsky counted 1,100 SANDHILL CRANES flying into Bachelor Island. The number of these stately birds swell in spring and fall as migrants stop by on their way north to their Arctic breeding grounds.
The VAS field trip to Tillamook produced some very nice sightings of rare birds such as TUFTED DUCK, GLAUCOUS GULL and PALM WARBLER.
I hope many of you will take time to attend the annual Memorial Day Weekend Audubon Campout at Wenas Creek in Yakima County. The birding is great as is the company and field trips.
If you have any questions about the campout contact me or
visit the Website at: www.wenasaudubon.org
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