1/28/2024   Brewster  (link to here)
Despite having several target birds to chase this morning, we didn't check out of our classy room at the Inn at Gambel Sands until shortly after 9AM. The big attraction in the room was the gas fireplace but the bed was also very comfortable, the firmness of the mattress tempered by a slim memory foam topper, and the toilet was tall enough for me to use successfully. On the other hand, the absence of an in-room microwave consigned me to cold soup for supper and cold leftover coffee in the morning. I can handle that now and then; the leftover coffee we bring from home, even cold, is better than the hot stuff the Keurig machine spits out.
Our late checkout did not set us back too much. With the scope Darchelle easily spotted the Redheads in the cove L+ by the Washburn Island trailhead below Fort Okanogan though it took us a while to count all the other ducks. Through my opera glasses the Redheads, though not much more than brown and black dots, were discernibly different from the other duck dots.
Over at Bridgeport State Park L+ the Northern Saw-whet Owls hiding in the foliage of the weeping spruce trees were only slightly more difficult to locate than the Redheads and considerably cuter to behold. Darchelle found the first one easily but overlooked the second one until another birder tipped her off as to its location. The third one eluded us despite the extra half hour we devoted to devoted to searching for it. As for me, Darchelle was able to position the car on the paved access road so that I could look out my window and just barely see the owl through a gap between the spruce branches, as shown in the photo above.
Fearing that the January heat wave which arrived in the Okanogan yesterday might have rendered the Cameron Lake Road impassable overnight, we decided against going back this morning to search again for the large falcon rumored to be wintering up there. Instead we tackled the fog and equally muddy back roads of the Waterville Plateau. Thinking we might be able to rustle up a Long-eared Owl at the Lamoine windbreak L+ where I have photographed them in the past we drove out there but when we ran into a wall of fog a quarter mile before the windbreak we concluded that even if Darchelle found an owl I would not be able to see it so we drove north on F Rd NW L+ instead. That paid off! We may have missed a Long-eared Owl but somewhere in the vicinity of A Rd NW and 15 Rd NW Darchelle spotted a Short-eared Owl and despite having to wait for an oncoming biosolids truck to rumble past us, was able to turn our car around in time for me to see it too.
After a brief stop in Mansfield to photograph House Sparrows at the grain elevators we drove east on SR 172, aka 14 Rd NE, to H Rd NE where we saw Snowy Owls last winter but found no Snowy Owls, and no snow to speak of either thanks to mild temperatures and rain yesterday. Darchelle wondered if the owls relocate when the snow melts. We tried J Rd NE as well but turned back when the car kept swerving and sliding in the mud and instead drove south into increasing fog and diminishing daylight on Heritage Road L+. That being an arterial of sorts, the gravel surface was mostly firm but towards the south end we encountered a few puddles so large that in the fog we could not see the far shore until we were part way across. We are not accustomed to being that adventurous, even in our Subaru.

1/31/2024   Home  (link to here)
We conclude January with 107755 miles on the car, 138 birds for the year and 4,444 checklists in the state of Washington in eBird, not counting the checklist from this morning in the back yard L+. We drove 2144 miles, spent 10 days in the field but only 5 nights away from home.

2/02/2024   Port Townsend  (link to here)
Ancient Murrelets offer an annual challenge to year listers in Washington state, particularly to those who are unable to use assistive optical devices such as binoculars and spotting scopes. Although they occasionally approach close to shore, they more often remain out in the Sound out of range of the naked eye. Point Wilson, which protrudes into Admiralty Inlet a mile north of Port Townsend, is one of the places where they can be seen from shore. Knowing that the point itself is not wheelchair-accessible, we drove out there today anyhow and discovered, perhaps not for the first time, that the overlook L+ 200 yards west of the point offers views of alcids and today, Orcas as well, without even getting out of the car.
The whales, at least 15 in three separate groups, cruised east past our vantage point about a half mile offshore. They were on the near side of the red navigation buoy which I think is about 0.6 mile north of the point. We later learned that the "J" pod of southern resident Orcas + had been reported near Port Townsend. Darchelle pointed them out to another woman in the parking lot who was thrilled to see them. We promised to send her photos.
Before the Orcas distracted us Darchelle was able to identify both species of murrelets through the scope. I was too! She balanced the scope on a pile of blankets on my lap and after a good deal of fiddling was able to position it so that I could watch murrelets, murres and other birds zipping through my field of view. Many of them I could not identify during the brief view afforded me but I was able to distinguish both species of murrelets. Darchelle got photos too, though not from the overlook but rather from the Keystone ferry L+.
Reluctant as always to return home by daylight, we drove up to Samish Flats L+ hoping for a first-of-year large falcon but we didn't find either species. We did pick up our first Merlin of the year though. The Short-eared Owls hunting the East 90 marshes were outnumbered by the photographers hunting the owls but no one else was trying for the one Darchelle photographed a few miles away at Little Indian Slough.

2/03/2024   The Coast  (link to here)
Ed and Delia joined us on our first trip to the coast in the new year. As usual, we had our objectives and with their help, we achieved them all.
First up was the Red-shouldered Hawk along Brady Loop Road. Ed and Delia got there 20 minutes ahead of us, found the hawk then lost it again shortly before we arrived. When I spotted a small Buteo leaving a distant tree with two crows in pursuit I suspected that it might be our bird. Five minutes later it flew into the tree along Hiram Hall Road in which Darchelle photographed it. It was first-year bird, as nondescript as they come and more bedraggled than most.
The draw in Westport was an eBird-approved wintering Clark's Grebe in the marina. Other birders had already pinpointed its location for us. Ed and Darchelle got photos; I saw the dot.
On our way down to Tokeland we stopped at the North Cove overlook where someone, perhaps Liam, had discovered a few Red Knots, a shorebird which is rare in Washington in the winter and in our experience, rarely easy to find during the rest of the year. My pessimism about finding them today notwithstanding, we had no difficulty. Even I could see them and everyone got photos.
For the past couple of years we have been able to get close-up views of Rock Sandpipers and Surfbirds from the beach at the Ocean Shores jetty an hour on either side of high tide. Since we would need to be there by 10 AM, we spent the night in Aberdeen. Ed and Delia joined us in our suite for beer and supper; we had picked up Clam Chowder and crab meat from Brady's Oysters for me but it was not as flavorful as the same combination from Nelson Crab in Tokeland. It was still good, but not worth the price. Ditto for the Best Western at $207 for the night. Really, in Aberdeen!
We made it out the parking area at the jetty an hour after high tide and an hour ahead of the rockpipers. The track to the beach was obstructed by a berm of sand topped by a pile of driftwood so Darchelle pulled the car up as far as she could then she and Ed scoped the rocks. It was Ed who spotted the Kittwake. I could just pick out the white dot but Darchelle's photos confirmed the ID. Her photos also confirmed the presence of a Rock Sandpiper but we did not realize that at the time so we drove around and back down the beach to scan the rocks for another hour before Ed managed to photograph one dodging the surf at the far end of the jetty. With my opera glasses I saw that dot too.

2/08/2024   Tri Cities  (link to here)
A successful day of birding today gave us the highest year-to-date species total (171) in the eBird Top 100 for Washingon for the first and perhaps only time this year. Among the nine new birds we picked up were three which I considered would be difficult to get - Black-crowned Night Heron, Tricolored Blackbird and Slaty-backed Gull. Darchelle got photos of those three as well, though the gull is not really identifiable from the photo alone.
Wanapum Dam near Vantage was our first stop. This time Darchelle was able to get an identifying photo of the Long-tailed Duck and this time we correctly counted it in Kittitas County.
At the Steptoe Roundabout Pond the plastic bags we immediately noticed hung up in a tree along the far shore turned out to be the Black-crowned Night Herons for which that location is locally famous. The identity of the duck in the foreground of the heron photo is uncertain. Head, shape of the bill and overall size and color suggest Gadwall but the plumage has Mallard affinities and the pale cheek patch is just a mystery.
The Slaty-backed Gull which has wintered in Tri Cities for seven years now had not been reported for a couple weeks but when we saw the line of gulls in place across the river on Carpet Island Darchelle dug out the scope and soon found it. The light was good so she was even able to see the absence of webbing on its feet for which that particular individual is known. In the photo it stands taller than the other gulls with it.
Dodd Road L+ delivered. A Sharp-shinned Hawk was eating a Starling but flushed and dropped it in a patch of weeds when a young Red-tail flew over to investigate. The Barn Owls were home while across the road the blackbirds were lined up waiting to be identified to go to bed.
The white wing patch of the bird pictured in the photo on the left caught our attention and we immediately thought Tricolored before we realized that it was actually leucistic. Darchelle's photo revealed that our ID was correct, not because of the white on the wing but because of the slender bill, not as deep at the base as that of a Red-winged Blackbird. The female with it is also a Tricolored because of the cool tone of her brown plumage.

2/10/2024   Walla Walla  (link to here)
Since both Richard and Donna and Sally and her family were occupied for most of the day we went birding. As usual we stumbled upon no Ruffed Grouse along the roads leading up into the Blues, prompting us to vow once again to refrain from wasting precious winter daylight searching for them between January and March. Higher up though, the snow-covered trees were glorious against a bright blue sky and Darchelle spotted a Goshawk, though I missed it.
After counting 13 Long-eared Owls on Smith Springs Road L+, we continued west on Hwy 124 to the Eureka Flats area and searched north of the highway along Greenville Road for a Lapland Longspur and south of the highway along Touchet North Road for a Ferruginous Hawk, unsuccessfully.
Immediately after turning onto Luckenbill Bridge Road L+ to head home to College Place we flushed a bird which I was pretty certain was a Lapland Longspur but Darchelle was not able to get a photo so we did not report it at the time. After viewing hundreds more Horned Larks the following week I felt more confident about the ID so I wrote it up as follows: An incident over the weekend gave us a bit of a scare. Yesterday afternoon Monica was in her kitchen when she noticed a man walking cautiously by her window and realized that he must have been hiding in the backyard when she and Marc had returned home a few minutes earlier. They immediately ran outside and spotted the intruder, a blonde-haired man about 5' 10", perhaps in his twenties and wearing blue jeans and a hoodie, walking across the street. They shouted and he glanced back at them before darting into the yard behind the big gray house north of Z's. Marc and Monica ran after him but gave up the chase when they realized that he had been able to run through to the next street over. We figure that he had been casing the house + when Marc and Monica surprised him, and that he had scouted out the neighborhood as well. Since then have been careful to hide valuables before going out of town.

2/14/2024   Chelan  (link to here)
We embarked on this trip expecting to pick up a few wintering waterfowl in Chelan County but particularly seeking two species, a Yellow-billed Loon along the south shore of Lake Chelan L+and the Snowy Owls which have recently appeared north of Atkins Lake L+ on the Waterville Plateau. We both saw both species this afternoon but our scope of effort had already crept, that is to say increased, to include a search for the large falcon rumored to be wintering somewhere along the Cameron Lake Road, which in turn necessitated another stay at the Inn at Gamble Sands.
Postponing the Cameron Lake Road trek until tomorrow gave us more time to inspect the crowd of ducks along Lakeside Park after the loon had motored west and out of sight from the roadside overlook below which it had been hanging out when we arrived. Our timing was fortuitous; Phil B had been searching for it for a couple of hours before we showed up, and it was not reported again for two days after we left. We added three new species for Chelan County at Lakeside Park L+ before we continued over to the Waterville Plateau.
A few miles north of Mansfield we turned right on 15 Road NW, which shortly turns south and becomes F Road NW. We were looking for longspurs but were unable to pick any out of the flocks of Horned Larks. We did not expect the redpolls. Since our last visit during the January thaw the snow has mostly melted and the roads have firmed up again but the lack of snow has apparently not deterred the winter birds. In addition to the redpolls we saw a very large flock of Snow Buntings along F Road NW L+ and of course, the Snowy Owls. They were not our only owls. Heading north on Heritage Road at dusk we flushed one probable Great Horned and one definite Short-eared, then two more Short-eared after turning east on Hwy 172.

2/15/2024   Cameron Lake Road  (link to here)
Our night at the Inn at Gamble Sands was as comfortable as we expected, though I continue to find it irritating that their rooms have neither a mini-fridge or microwave. The temperature outside was close to freezing overnight so we did not really need the fridge but a warm supper would have been nice.
The morning was wet but the clouds which appeared to shroud the Cameron Lake highlands to our north had lifted enough to permit us to look for birds once we got up there. Light snow had taken the place of the morning drizzle and an inch or two had already fallen, partially concealing the ruts etched into the now-frozen mud of the gravel road. Those frozen ruts undid us.
Knowing that the ruts might be trouble we were taking our time, driving cautiously while we scanned fenceposts, hilltops and boulders for roosting raptors. There weren't many; we spotted only four along the entire 15-mile length of road L+. That was also about how many cars passed us during the four hours we spent on that road. None of them drove by while Darchelle was changing our flat tire.
That took her about an hour, not bad considering that she had never done it before. I sat in the front seat offering advice but otherwise she was on her own. The snow let up after a while but the wind persisted and the temperature remained in the low 20's. I don't think she had gloves.
The old tire was toast. As best I can remember, we hit a particularly bad patch of ruts about two miles south of Timentwa Road. Although we were only doing about 20 mph the car suddenly swerved almost crosswise to the road and we slid sideways along the ruts probably 30 feet before Darchelle could straighten it out again. The frozen road was noisy and a little slippery under the wheels so it took several minutes for us to realize something might be different. When we stopped at the Tree Sparrows spot about a half mile north of Timentwa Road, Darchelle thought to check the tires and discovered the problem.
Our last flat tire was also in the snow, up on the Waterville Plateau back in December 2021. Ed and Delia had been with us on that trip and they had changed the tire for us. After checking the Les Schwab in Brewster we had driven back to Wenatchee on the doughnut, spent the night at the Smart Inn and Suites and bought four new tires for $750 from the Subaru dealer next door in the morning. Apparently nobody will replace a single tire on an all-wheel-drive car anymore. This time Subaru wanted almost $1000 for a set of all-season tires so we decided to spend a couple of hundred dollars more for all-terrain tires from that same Les Schwab. The salesman was super nice and we trusted him when he told us that the all-terrain tires would be tougher and more durable on rough roads. They would also be slightly larger, giving us a little more clearance. Half an hour later we were on our way, and I never even had to get out of the car.
Half an hour after that we gave our new tires their first test, back up on the muddy half-frozen roads of the Waterville Plateau. With our higher clearance we felt that we actually had better visibility but it still wasn't enough to enable us to locate the Lapland Longspurs previously reported along Dyer Hill Road L+. We did enjoy a nice view of the sunset though. Rather than returning home long after dark, we booked a room at the Lakeside Lodge in Chelan.

2/16/2024   Leavenworth  (link to here)
Since we were still in Chelan County we took some time on the way home to try for a few more county birds, stopping first at Entiat City Park L+ to look at ducks and later at Lower Sunnyslope Road L+ in Wenatchee to look for a California Scrub Jay, a pioneer which has recently arrived in the county. We found two of them looking quite at home on a brushy hillside above the road exactly where they had been previously reported. Darchelle got photos but I preferred her shot of the Golden Eagle soaring overhead, also apparently quite at home in suburban Wenatchee.
White-headed Woodpeckers get reported every year in Leavenworth so we have tried for them there several times but until today, without without success. They like Ponderosa Pine forest with a few snags and not too much understory and they don't mind a few houses in the area - exactly what the valley of lower Icicle Creek has to offer. Getting into that habitat, particularly in the winter, is a problem in a wheelchair but in Leavenworth we have found a spot that works for us - Cemetery Road L+. We drive in there and call for them, and today they answered. One flew down and spent several minutesworking a pine trunk right at eye level. We were delighted. We were also pleased to spot a White-breasted Nuthatch nearby, our ninth new bird this year for Chelan county.
Another Leavenworth attraction is the Icicle Creek Brewing Company and in particular, their Enchantments Hazy IPA series of limited edition beers. Limited means they produce a new version every month or so and unfortunately I did not figure this out until the version I particularly like, the #16 Apex, was being displaced by #17 Argonaut. Apex is no longer available in stores but we stopped in town at the brewery where Darchelle was able to pick up a 4-pack. Uncertain which one I wanted, she also brought out a 4-pack of Argonaut which was fine; it's also a very good beer but not as floral as the Apex.

2/18/2024   Skagit  (link to here)
When a Whooper Swan turned up in Monroe two years ago it was a big deal, the first sighting in Washington in more than a decade. When it or another was discovered near Enuclaw last year we promply drove down there to see that one too. Although neither a life nor a state bird, it was new for King County (#256) and for the year (#33). This year a (the?) Whooper Swan decided to stop up north in Skagit County. Someone who obviously pays more attention to Trumpeter Swans than I do noticed it four days ago in a flock of Trumpeters. While it is not drawing the crowds like it did the past two years, it's still getting plenty of love; during the ten minutes we watched it, two other cars arrived to check it out. For me it was #223 for Skagit County and #184 for the year.
The day being yet young, we visited several other sites in the Samish Flats and farther south in Skagit County. At Little Indian Slough Darchelle photographed the Short-eared Owl again and at Channel Drive she photographed our fifth Sharp-shinned Hawk of the year. On Fir Island L+, we found our first Pileated Woodpeckers, a bird we should have seen or at least heard before now, and our second flock of Barn Swallows for the year, a bird we not be seeing at all this early in the spring.

2/23/2024   Cathlamet  (link to here)
Our ambivalence about this trip was reflected in our late start but we managed to squeeze in several stops in Lewis County, one stop in Cowlitz County and a brief visit to Ridgefield. County birding was our primary purpose so we did good but Ridgefield was a bust so we didn't feel good as we watched the sun set over the marshes and ash groves of the refuge.
We left Ridgefield shortly after six with at least two cars still out on the auto tour route behind us. The gate was closed but opened automatically when we pulled up to it so we did not have call on the local police to let us out. I imagine that gate has been automatic for a while now, the police having long ago grown tired of accommodating dilatory birders
If we had been walking up the Main Street of Cathlamet and had happened to peer through the dusty windows into the lobby of the Cathlamet Hotel, crowded with empty boxes and derelict furniture, we would have not guessed that they were open for business. On Google though, they had a phone number and they answered when Darchelle called ahead to book a room. No reservations were necessary and they would be waiting for us. The front desk and all of the rooms were upstairs but they had an elevator. Although small, the room was spacious in the right places and the toilet was both accessible and tall. The bed was comfortable as well; I think we would stay there again. My Chile Relleno from Maria's across the street was no better than average but still tasted good.
Birding the next morning was decent, and disappointing. We had hoped to add as many as half a dozen species to our Wahkiakum County lists but picked up only two, a Virginia Rail making "kid-ick" calls in the cattails along Steamboat Slough L+ and a forlorn Red-shouldered Hawk peering down at a soggy pasture from a utility wire on Puget Island L+. The previously-reported Turkey Vultures which Darchelle spotted in the same field where we saw the kite back in 2021 were about three weeks ahead of schedule.

2/27/2024   Home  (link to here)
Over the past week my voice has taken an abrupt turn for the worse. On the computer, I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to type and to control the mouse. For the past several days my voice has been generally both weaker and more guttural to the point that Dragon misinterprets me more often than not, rendering writing and photo editing barely possible and challenging my ability to devise workarounds. The problem seems to be a loss of muscle tone in the back of my throat and if it persists I will no longer be able to maintain and add to this journal. To me, that feels like a catastrophe.

2/28/2024   Walla Walla  (link to here)
On our way to Walla Walla we detoured out to Washtucna to look for the Harris's Sparrow which Liam discovered there a week or two ago. We failed to find it but in the roadcut east of Connell where SR 260 climbs up through the rimrock (mp 20.3) we spotted a small flock of chunky cinnamon-brown finches. Suspecting Rosy-Finches, we turned around and confirmed our suspicions. They were my 130th species for Franklin County.

2/29/2024   College Place  (link to here)
We spent much of the day visiting with Sally and her family. In the morning while the kids were at school we drank coffee and ate pastries with Sally at Cleveland Commons, the coffee shop at Whitman College. Like last time the weather was cold and wet and like last time, we saw Emily only this time she was on her way out the door and had no time to visit. Returning to Sally's, we joined the whole family for lunch. I mostly huddled by the wood stove but still didn't manage to really get warm. Later in the afternoon the sun came out so we returned to Nine Mile Canyon L+ and found two of the four birds we looked for yesterday evening but missed. The Ferruginous Hawk was a BVD (Better View Desired) sighting, identified only by the long wings, pale underparts and white tail.
We conclude the month with 111,111 miles on the car, 197 birds for the year and 170 for the month, our highest total ever for February. Our checklist count of 79 for the month was also our highest ever for February. We drove 3356 miles, spent 13 days in the field and 8 nights away from home.

3/01/2024   Columbia/Asotin  (link to here)
As we set out from Walla Walla this morning provisioned with fresh coffee (12oz drip with an extra shot - delicious) and Asiago empanadas from Walla Walla Roastery, Darchelle again observed that the best part of a birding trip is often the beginning, when the bright flame of anticipation has not yet been doused by the cold water of reality. She did not put it quite that way but we were both feeling optimistic about the birds that we would find over our next two days in the southeast corner of the state. So optimistic in fact that we were barely made it out of Dixie before violating our recent vow to not spend any more time searching for Ruffed Grouse during the winter by veering off Hwy 12 onto Mud Creek Road L+ to do just that. At least it was only an hour, and the day was yet young.
A Hooded Merganser previously reported by Ryan M at Pittman Pond L+ in Dayton was our first new species for Columbia County. It was my 110th species for the county, leaving only one other county in the state (Wahkiakum) in which I do not have at least 110 species. Leaving Dayton we drove east on Patit Road into a landscape typical of the northern third of both Columbia and Garfield counties - a high dry plateau sloping gradually north to the Snake River and dissected by steep-sided canyons. Level terrain is mostly dedicated to dryland wheat cultivation while slopes retain native-ish grassland altered to varying degrees by grazing and invasive weeds. Rodents like grass and wintering raptors like rodents and we like wintering raptors. Two of them were new for us for Columbia County - Rough-legged Hawk and Northern Harrier - and we found both of them over wheat fields along McGee Road L+ between Patit Creek and the Tucannon River.
Along the four mile stretch stretch of NFE (Not For Ed, that is extremely steep and winding) gravel roads (Marjorie Road L+ and Marengo Road L+) between the Tucannon River and Hwy 12 west of Pomeroy we counted 10 Red-tailed Hawks including two Harlan's Hawks.
The Harlan's Hawk is a distinctive subspecies of Red-tailed Hawk which nests in the boreal forest from central Alaska to northern British Columbia and normally winters from the Great Plains south to the Gulf. They are unusual in that dark phase birds typically outnumber light phase by as much as 10 to 1. Both phases usually lack any orange or rufous tones to the plumage. In my experience they are very rare in Washington. Over the past decade I have seen only one other light phase Harlan's, back in January 2013, and three or four dark phase birds, most recently in February 2020. To see both in one afternoon...well, I probably should have bought a lottery ticket this morning.
Darchelle noticed the light phase Harlan's kiting on a brisk westerly breeze as we approached the top of the ridge. As we watched, it dropped down to the ground then sailed up again with a Meadow Vole in its talons. It then began to eat its prey on the wing. I had not seen that before but I suspect that, given the ease with which it could ride the wind and the risk of losing the vole to one other Red-tails soaring overhead, lunch on the go made sense.
Part of the allure of a visit to the southeast counties was the opportunity to add the three locally rare gulls currently visiting the Asotin Landfill L+ to our Asotin County list. It took a couple of hours but eventually all three joined the rotating flock of gulls roosting on the bulldozed gravel flats of the dump.
For us the adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was the star of the show. Unlike the Glaucous, it was not new for the year but it is a species which we have never seen well, only at a distance through a spotting scope. This time even I had good views. As the photos show, it is similar in size and shape to a California Gull but more richly colored - darker mantle and brighter yellow orange bill and legs. The pale eye and red spot on the bill clinch the ID.
We struggled a bit with the identification of the Iceland Gull. Only one had previously been reported but we thought we had seen two, and when I studied Darchelle's photos I found three different large pale-brown gulls. We initially assumed that only one of them could be the Iceland Gull and that the other(s), which were too stocky and pale to be California's and too delicate and finely marked to be Glaucous-winged, must be Herring Gulls. A little more research revealed that HY (Hatch, ie. first, Year) Herring Gulls are as dark as HY California Gulls, so our HY big gulls had to be Iceland Gulls. I assume our conclusion was correct because we incurred no objections when we reported them as such on eBird.
Peola Road L+ runs WSW from Clarkston up and across the northernmost fragment of the gently sloping basalt plateau which skirts the northeast corner of the Blue Mountains. The flat terrain on either side of the road is mostly cultivated for wheat which when not irrigated is, locally at least, planted every other year in a practice termed "fallow". This time of year each individual field, which may be as much as a half mile across, is either planted to green wheatgrass or left bare except for last year's stubble. Although we only saw one this afternoon, the most common bird in the winter in wheat country is the Horned Lark and FWIW, they appear to prefer the stubble. We weren't looking for larks though; we were looking for a large falcon. As far as we know none have been reported this winter so we did not expect to be successful in our search, and we were not.
At the upper end of the plateau Peola Road continues west following narrow ridges through rough terrain over into Garfield County. We had made it about that far when a vigorous snow squall enveloped us and we turned back. Just then four finches flew across the road in front of us, too stocky for larks and too large for siskins or redpolls. Darchelle through binoculars was able to discern cinnamon-brown underparts before they disappeared into the blowing snow and based on that, we identified them as Rosy-Finches. Bird #119 for Asotin County.
Back in town the storm left a rainbow behind as it rushed off into Idaho. We checked in to the Rivertree then searched online for supper and settled on Sinaloa + because it was nearby. It was an excellent choice; my Relleno Mexicano was light and tasty but Darchelle's Relleno Omelette-style was even better. Both are listed under "Small Combination" in the online menu +.

3/02/2024   Asotin/Garfield  (link to here)
Weissenfels Ridge Road L+ leaves the Snake River Canyon a few miles south of Asotin and offers spectacular views as it traverses up above Tenmile Creek onto the eastern edge of the Anatone Flats. A large falcon would have been nice; they are rumored to show up there occasionally but the views alone make the drive worthwhile.
While we did not find any large falcons this trip, Darchelle did get a nice photo of a small one, this American Kestrel along the Snake River. Up on the plateau the Mountain Bluebirds, while not new for the county, were our first this year.
Anatone picked a few inches of snow in the storm yesterday but otherwise the snowpack was limited to a few shrunken snowbanks, a far cry from two years ago when snowdrifts loomed higher than the car in places. That was in January but still, we just don't get snow any more like we used to.
We took the highway back into town then drove up Peola Road again and followed it all the way to Pomeroy, after a quick stop at McGuire Gulch Road L+ to add one last bird, a Barn Owl, to our Asotin County list.
In Garfield County we were seeking winter birds while they were still around and we did pretty well considering the brevity of our visit. We crossed into the county on Peola Road L+ around 3 PM and within a few minutes added a Rough-legged Hawk and a Northern Shrike. Down at Central Ferry L+ we picked out Redheads and a somewhat questionable Greater Scaup from the very large flocks of waterfowl in the bays of the Snake River though the most interesting bird was a hybrid Barrow's X Common Goldeneye, the only one we've ever seen.
At Willow Landing L+ a few miles upriver we found hawks instead of ducks. Among the raptors riding the updrafts along the bluffs above the river were two juvenile Bald Eagles and a Sharp-shinned Hawk, also new for the county. We would have been content with those six but on our way back over the hill to Hwy 12 we nearly ran over a Gray Partridge standing in the middle of the road.
In my excitement about our new birds I almost forgot to mention the impressive murmurations of starlings dropping out of the sky at sunset to roost in blackberry brambles along the road.

3/03/2024   Ellensburg  (link to here)
In the morning after stopping by Swigg coffee we detoured out to Snively Road L+ to look for Sandhill Cranes, a new bird for us for Benton County. We had never been out there and I was surprised to see such an extensive area of marshes, meadows and Russian Olive thickets so near to Tri-Cities. It lies in the historic floodplain of the Yakima River about five miles northwest of Richland and is perhaps too wet for agriculture or commercial development. We saw the cranes and with some effort, Darchelle was able to position the car so that I could hear the rails and wrens calling in the marsh.
That made three new species for Benton County and we decided that given our late start on the morning, three was enough. We had another stop in mind for the trip home and we wanted get there while the birds were still active. Andy and others had recently reported Pine Grosbeaks and Black-backed Woodpeckers at Ellensburg Pass L+. The woodpecker would be new for the year and the grosbeak new for the county and both are birds which we do not see as often as we would like.
We spotted the Pine Grosbeaks in a pine tree on an open slope along the North Wenas Road about a mile west of the pass. Darchelle was delighted to hear their calls, like the sound of sunlight dancing on a mountain stream. The woodpeckers we found just east of the pass in a stand of charred pines a few hundred yards south of the road. We heard drumming which sounded right - a series of taps, faster than a Pileated or a Three-toed, slower than a Hairy or a Flicker, longer than a Downy or a White-headed and unlike those last four, fading slightly at the end. Black-backed drumming is distinctive but the differences between woodpecker species are subtle so we were grateful when one flew into a tree near the road and Darchelle was able to confirm the ID.
The North Wenas Road was muddy and rocky, probably as bad as I have ever seen it, but it improved towards the east end after we climbed up out of Umtanum Creek. From there to Shushuskin Canyon, Umptanum Road crosses a basalt plateau where the soil cover is thin and in places piled up into Mima Mounds, a phenomenon I have noticed in other areas with similar geology. The mounds are maybe three feet tall and twenty feet across and covered with bunchgrass but it is in the thin lichen-encrusted soil between them that the wildflowers grow.
Down in Ellensburg my 200th Kittitas County bird was waiting for us in a pond along Tjossem Road L+, or so we hoped. We found the pond and spent an hour trying to convert one or more Canada Geese into Cackling Geese before driving another quarter mile down the road and finding a whole flock of the real thing. Cacklers are smaller, stubbier and darker than Canadas but those differences can be difficult to discern in an individual bird. This time of year behavioral differences can help in distinguishing the two because Canada Geese have mostly separated into pairs or small groups while Cackling Geese are mostly in tight and fairly large flocks.
Over the pass we had snow in the air but not on the road and at home we found Bird-friendly coffee from Ed and Delia awaiting us.

3/07/2024   Pierce  (link to here)
A forecast of sunshine, the prospect of good company and repeated reports of a Swamp Sparrow in Tacoma lured us out today and it was a good outing. After picking up Ed and Delia on Beacon Hill we navigated to the Mountain View Cemetery L+ and found the marsh and the pump house near which the sparrow had been seen. Wintering Swamp Sparrows tend to be furtive and reluctant to appear without a little encouragement. Pishing or playing their calls can do the trick but I find it more effective to call up a chorus of Song Sparrows by playing Song Sparrow chips. Once the local Song Sparrows are talking, a few Swamp Sparrow chips will often entice the more secretive sparrow to come investigate. As it did today.
The Green Heron at Levee Pond L+ in Fife was not home. The Cinnamon Teal at 212th Street Ponds L+ in Kent were present but too distant for photos. The American Bittern(s) at the same location did not show up. The Barred Owls at Ravenna Park did.

3/09/2024   King  (link to here)
I thought I was up for an outing today but I was wrong. It started out okay. We met Ed and Delia in the Montlake neighborhood L+ by Portage Bay to look for our first King County Lesser Goldfinch and found it at the feeder which it has been visiting for the week with American Goldfinches. Also at the feeder was a House Finch with Conjunctivitis +, an eye disease which often kills them in the wild. According to the article, the disease spread through the eastern populations of House Finches thirty years ago but only recently began to infect western House Finches.
Leaving the House Finch to its fate (I suppose I should have been more sympathetic, being myself in the same situation, that is, well-fed with a fatal disease), we caravaned up to Snohomish County to look again for a Green Heron, this time at Scribner Park L+ in Lynnwood. Ann Marie W, who apparently visits that park regularly, was already there but had not seen the heron today. We did not see it either. I sat in the car while the others searched the park in the rain. It was not as much fun as I had anticipated and I would have preferred to call off the search several hours sooner than the others did.

3/16/2024   Mason  (link to here)
The forecast yesterday was calling for several days of warm weather with sunshine and temperatures as high as the low seventies so we felt that we ought to get out despite a deficit of enthusiasm for the prospect. Mason was one of the counties where I still had fewer than 120 species and neighboring Jefferson was one of Darchelle's lowest so a two day trip across the Sound made sense. We would be able to try again for the Green Heron at Levee Pond and maybe find the Mountain Quail at Hurd Road again this year. On the other hand we could sit at home on our deck in the sunshine and watch birds in the back yard over our morning coffee, but if we did that we would miss the Green Heron.
So we went, and by midafternoon had dipped on both the Green Heron at Levee Pond and the Mountain Quail at Hurd Road. We had also failed to add any species in Mason County, though we had found a couple of ducks in Kitsap. I was ready to call it good and head home for supper but Darchelle had fixated on finding a Mountain Quail so we drove back to Pierce County to try our luck at 144th St NW L+. We parked at the gate and I stayed in the car with the doors and windows open while Darchelle walked south under the powerline and played a few quail calls. I don't think she ever heard a "queerk" in response but she did hear "wik wik wik" calls and other clucking notes from the dense Scotch Broom thickets along the trail. While she was gone I also heard a brief but clear series of "wik" calls along with a single distant "queerk". My mood, which had been pretty sour when we'd arrived, was much improved not only by getting the quail but also just by seeing and hearing the other birds around me in the quiet of the evening. I do still enjoy birdwatching.
We stayed in an ADA room at the Super 8 in Shelton for $117. The bed was a perfect "10" and the toilet appeared tall enough, though I didn't have to test it.
In the morning we had a list of birds to chase down beginning with a Hooded Merganser at a pond along the highway south of town which we pursued in lieu of visiting the local coffee shop. Fortified with the Merganser tick and my leftover coffee, we drove north to the Skokomish River valley L+ where with stops in suitable habitat we picked up a Pileated Woodpecker (expected), an American Dipper (expected) and a Black Phoebe (unexpected) but repeatedly missed the common Hairy Woodpecker.
We wrapped up a warm afternoon with long wheelchair stroll at Theler Wetlands L+. Marsh Wrens were building nests in the cattails and singing their sputtering songs at each other. We scanned the alder stands for a Hermit Thrush or a Hairy Woodpecker while the shadows grew long around us and the temperature dropped. I was well chilled by the time we returned to the car.
When we pulled into the driverway the Magnolia greeted us with open flowers, the fat white petals gathering light from the dim stars above. Leaves had emerged on the snowberry bushes and the furry white willow buds had become stiff yellow catkins while we were gone.

3/19/2024   Bittern  (link to here)
A few days ago a rare White Wagtail was photographed on the dike which runs south along Port Susan Bay from the west end of Boe Road south of Stanwood. The eBird report also included 200 American Pipits and three American Bitterns. Darchelle needs a pipit for the year and we both need the bittern so north we drove this afternoon to find them.
As we were backing into the narrow parking area near the end of Boe Road a big white pickup truck pulled up and waited to get by us. Darchelle had just gathered up our gear and was preparing to unload the wheelchair when the driver of the truck, a man in his 40's with short brown hair and a bushy brown beard fit for an Amish farmer, walked up to my window. A badge on his dark blue coveralls read "Mission Motors". Without introducing himself, he said to me "I noticed you were in a wheelchair. Do you mind if I ask what happened to you?"
After we explained that I had ALS, he volunteered that he too had been paralyzed like me after his spinal cord had been snapped in an accident. "Two of my disks were crushed. The doctors told me I would never walk again."
"When I saw you", he continued, "I knew it was a divine appointment. God wants you to know that he loves you. You are precious to him. He loves you and he wants to heal you. He healed me and he wants to heal you."
It occurred to me that this was a man who took his employment at Mission Motors seriously.
He went on. "His love and forgiveness are a free gift. Whatever you have done, he forgives you for it. You are his precious child and he loves you." That thought brought tears to his eyes. He wiped them away, paused, looked into my eyes and resumed telling me that God loved me and wanted to heal me, as though through repetition he could convince me to be healed.
Darchelle and I listened politely without saying much. I could agree with much of what he was saying. I could imagine that if God existed he could love me and even want to heal me. I wondered what had actually happened to him. He seemed honest in his gratitude and earnest in his concern for me, or perhaps more accurately, in his desire to tell me how much God loved me. He did not seem aggressive about it though; I did not think he would become upset if we asked him to leave but it would have felt rude to do so. We were not in a hurry so we could afford to give him our attention for a few minutes, as we might give spare change to a homeless man who approached us on the street.
After the man returned to his truck and drove off, Darchelle wheeled me out on the dike, an uncomfortable ride thanks to a surface of walnut-sized gravel, then parked me to watch her search for the wagtail, or a bittern, or anything other than a Song Sparrow. The tide was low and there were a few birds poking around in the dead stubble on the mudflat but they were blackbirds, not pipits. The bitterns, if there were any in cattails along the dike L+, were silent.
We were leaving when we finally found our birds. I noticed an American Bittern in the cattail-choked ditch on my side of the road. After Darchelle photographed the bittern she spotted an American Pipit in the pasture on her side of the road. About 70 more subsequently joined it in flight. We were unable to detect the wagtail among them.
On the way home I wondered why I did not seriously consider what the man had to say about healing. I suppose that a decade of living with ALS has something to do with it. I have been prayed for before, both explicitly and incidentally and by professionals as well as amateurs. Has it made a difference? I cannot prove that it has not, nor can anyone deny that my ALS has continued to progress. Perhaps my faith has been insufficient, in my waking life at least. If being healed in a dream is any indication, my subconscious once believed, but to no avail.
The man from Mission Motors did make some impression on me though. Last night I dreamed my first God dream + in months, something about church though in the morning I could not remember it.

3/21/2024   Home  (link to here)
We did not go out today. Instead we sat indoors over coffee and breakfast and watched the birds attracted to our back yard by the feeders and our little pond. They might have been early birds, but we definitely were not. Reviewing the checklist L+, I see that we did not start until 10:30 AM. I think we might have stayed up late last night watching the last few episodes of season 3 of Madame Blanc +. Spoiler alert: Dom and Jean do indeed get together in the end.

3/23/2024   Shrub-steppe Birds  (link to here)
When we learned that our nephew Daniel would be able to spend a few days of his spring break with us, we made plans for a quick overnight trip to Walla Walla to pick him up. Well, a fairly quick trip anyhow. We used the occasion to pick up a few birds of the shrub-steppe in eastern Washington which had not yet returned from their winter vacation when we were over there three weeks ago.
An excellent example of sagebrush shrub-steppe habitat is preserved, or at least not yet destroyed by fire or development, at the entrance to the Wild Horse Wind Farm L+ along the Old Vantage Highway east of Ellensburg. The sagebrush grows thick and tall there and the avian lovers of that shrub do not seem to object to the huge wind turbines whirring sedately overhead. They don't seem to mind a bit of rain either though we did not like it much, blaming it for our inability to detect a Sage Thrasher at that location. We had to detour down into Frenchman Coulee L+ on the other side of the Columbia River to find the thrasher, which was okay. It is a spectacular spot and it was also on our way to our next destination, a rockpile near Quincy L+ where Burrowing Owls have nested for the past couple of years, maybe longer.
Thanks to repeated cheatgrass-fueled fires, the north slope of Saddle Mountain above Lower Crab Creek west of Othello no longer hosts much sagebrush but a small patch remains along Crab Creek Road about three miles east of Corfu M+, where the road crosses the Corfu landslide +. Ever since finding a pair of Loggerhead Shrikes there in April 2013 I have kept that spot in mind for that species, so when it turned up in our eBird search for a Loggerhead Shrike I was predisposed to go there L+ first. Even so, we almost drove by it sitting on a fence wire half-obscured by a sagebrush bush. But we didn't.
Multiple aspects of the geology of Saddle Mountain and the Lower Crab Creek valley intrigue me and I regret that I can no longer explore the area on foot the way I once could have but did not. I am limited to features I can access with the car or see from afar. The Taunton Bench, a prominent shelf above the eastern portion of the valley is one such feature. Initially I thought that it might be a section of the valley floor left behind after the rest of the valley was faulted downward but I recently learned otherwise. It is actually a flood terrace. In a river a flood will often rework the sediment of its bed, depositing flat-topped gravel bars then partially eroding them away as the water drops. The same phenomenon happened in the Lower Crab Creek valley on a massive scale during the Missoula floods when water draining through the Grand Coulee flowed south to the Othello area then west along the base of Saddle Mountain to Sentinel Gap. The Taunton and Smyrna Benches are just enormous gravel bars.
Continuing on to Othello we encountered carloads of birdwatchers attracted by the Sandhill Crane Festival when we stopped by the Para Ponds north of town to look for an early Black-necked Stilt. We did not find the stilt but had better luck with the Long-billed Curlews along Reynolds Road L+ south of town. Preferring the steppe in Shrub-steppe, they breed in grasslands in the western Great Plains and the Great Basin (including Washington) but like shrikes, are often not easy to find.
From Othello we drove west to Vernita Bridge to check for early Cliff Swallows but did not find any. As we continued south on Hwy 240 the afternoon sun was highlighting the old (perhaps contemporaneous with the Corfu slide) landslides at the north end of Rattlesnake Mountain so I had Darchelle stop and take a picture. The velvet green texture of the mountains is a recent development, revealing the complete and probably irreversible replacement of the native sagebrush by invasive cheatgrass following range fires a few years ago. Aesthetically appealing, ecologically devastating.

3/24/2024   Year Birds  (link to here)
After a leisurely breakfast with Richard and Donna and a brief visit by Sally, we picked up Daniel at his apartment and headed home but with a handful of stops for prospective year birds in mind. We were confident of at least three and ended up with six, giving us a year to date total of 222, ten more than a year ago but fewer than 2022, our big year +.
Requiring as it does a scope for decent views, the Walla Walla River delta is not my favorite birding location but with Darchelle's help I was able to discern the Caspian Terns through binoculars. We failed to find owls in the basalt "badlands" L+ west of Benton City but did catch an early flock of Cliff Swallows checking out (their ?) last year's nests. That is a spot which warrants further investigation, not only for owls but also for the geology. The basalt was eroded not by water flowing down the canyon but rather by floods pouring upstream from the Columbia.
At Kerry's Pond L+ we found lots of Canada Geese, or were they Cacklers? Even after studying photos I am not sure. We also found our first Black-necked Stilt, the identification of which was not in question. The several Ospreys on nest platforms between mps 52 and 44 were our 220th new species for the year. We did not stop for photos.
Recent reports, not all of them positive, enticed us to take a chance on finding a Lewis's Woodpecker at the headquarters of the Oak Creek wildlife area. We also checked the White-throated Swift cliff nearby along Hwy 12, where the roadcut reveals an andesite(?) lava flow sitting on top of river gravel. No swifts yet, though a few have been seen at the Selah rest area overlook. After driving the always scenic Yakima River Canyon and reminiscing about the marathon, we drove out to Durr Road L+ and eventually called up a Vesper Sparrow.

3/29/2024   Home  (link to here)
We have enjoyed Daniel's company this week.
Monday we all slept in but made it out to Ravenna Park L+ and wheeled up the main trail from 55th St almost to the 15th Avenue bridge. Daniel got a taste of urban life when two homeless men under the 20th Avenue bridge began screaming at each other. We heard that one of them was threatening the other with a hammer so Darchelle called 911. Perhaps the police showed up because they quieted down a few minutes later. Comparing contacts at Walla Walla University we discovered that several of Daniel's professors and fellow engineering students were birdwatchers with whom Darchelle had texted about various rare birds.
Tuesday Darchelle did her sessions, Daniel practiced his violin and I worked on Journal pages. Marc and Monica came up and brought dinner with them - Sopas with nopales and blue corn tortillas. I could only eat one, but it was delicious.
Wednesday the Lilac Wonder tulips began to bloom. The Mongolia is still in full flower but begining to carpet the driveway with pale pink petals which Darchelle whisks away with the battery-powered blower before the rain can turn them into pale brown slime. At Daniel's request we have been watching Lord of the Rings - extended edition in the evenings but he has been going to bed part way through while Darchelle and I continue watching until the end. We still feel a bit epic when we wake up in the morning.
Friday Marco took Daniel and Marc skiing at Snoqualmie Pass. Daniel snowboarded. It was only his second time but after the first run or two he figured it out well enough to have a great time. I finished Journal entries for Mason County and the Bittern. Ben, Sally and the kids arrived around suppertime and Darchelle took them all over to the vegan burger place inside Whole Foods. They are here for the weekend and will take Daniel back to Walla Walla with them on Sunday.

3/31/2024   Wrap up  (link to here)
After breakfast Ben took the kids over to the zip line at Cowan Park while Darchelle, Sally and I wheeled up from the parking lot at the 20th Avenue bridge, hoping to stumble across an early warbler. No warblers, but after Darchelle showed the kids how to use the Merlin app to see which birds were around us, they all spent the rest of the afternoon using all available phones to detect birds. Still no warblers though.
Sunday morning the kids inserted marshmallows into the Pillsbury slice and bake rolls. When the rolls are baked the marshmallows puff them up then melt away leaving them hollow, representing the empty tomb of Jesus. Darchelle fixed a Tater Tot fritata but forgot to add the Tater Tots so she quickly baked them on a cookie sheet and we ate them on the side.