April 19th-20th The Great Escape, Days 1 and 2

When I leave on these trips, I'm usually leaving my daughter behind. As a 50/50 parent, I try to adjust the timing of my birding trips to minimize missed days. But. . . with her leaving mid-to-late week for a weekend jazz festival, a window opened up for an extended trip away. . . during April!

I'd long planned on making this trip a Skamania and Wahkiakum focused trip. Skamania. . . Goodness Skamania and the weather. I'd given up altogether in January; I'd gotten intermittently wet in February; and I'd gotten biblically drenched in March. April was okay. Winter was still holding on, with snow as low as 1000 feet in the days leading up to my trip. This slowed the arrival of some migrants, and maybe allowed me to focus my time a little better down below. 

On the 19th, I left Renton when I'd made enough progress on my work. This was late enough in the afternoon that I ended up stuck in traffic on I-5 south for much of the afternoon. It did make for a fun bit of gas-mileage-experimentation, as I tried to see how well cruise control at. . . say 30 miles an hour would work. While it kept me from fully enjoying the experience of getting up to 50, and then, accordion-style, hitting the brakes and coming to a stop over and over, it did result in a long stretch over 40 miles to the gallon!

Skamania Landing

I figured this would be the most likely place to come across shorebirds in late April, with the extensive mudflats. I still may actually believe that shorebirds eat mud. It's a hard belief to shake! They didn't completely let me down - there was a single peep out on the flats as I arrived. But it was way too far out for me to make sense of the bird, so it just went unidentified. 

Squint really hard. . . I did rule out Black-necked Stilt, however.
and Ruff.

Barn Swallows, Rufous Hummingbird, Osprey, and Turkey Vulture all added to my year list in Skamania, bringing it to 77. I made little stops here and there at some of the many little ponds between the rail tracks and the hillsides along the way, hoping for something like a Cinnamon Teal, or a Northern Shoveler, but the day would end at 77 for Skamania. I rolled into my go-to lodging, just inside of neighboring Klickitat County: The Society Hotel, which offers bunks at pretty reasonable rates.

These rates even include an appointment in their soaking spa, where you can throw your body into all sorts of altered-temperature realities! But on this trip, as lengthy as it would be, I knew I'd have to put in some work hours whenever I had a chance to plug in. I sat in their large common room and click-clacked away on my laptop until I had to give up the ghost. 

It was all-in-all a quiet evening! A Wednesday night doesn't usually bring a lot of travelers through, although the gal at the desk informed me that this would be changing shortly with the oncoming wildflower season in the Columbia Gorge. 

Day 12 in the books!

Spring Creek Fish Hatchery

By setting myself up for two nights, I was able to get some good sleep, and still get up right around sunrise for some birding. I got a quick check of emails done from my bunk (plugin and wifi right there!) and boiled up some water for breakfast. I'd packed instant coffee and oatmeal, which made for an inexpensive start to my day. It was an easy start as well, since there is a common area for the bunks that includes an electric kettle. 

I slipped out the door and made my first stop at Spring Creek Fish Hatchery. I had been here a few times over the course of the year, but I made a point this time of parking the car very early and walking the length of the site. 

Free! Subscription to this blog to the person who can tell me what these flowers are. 
Lifetime subscription

This began with a long stare at, and a long listen to, the cliff walls above the hatchery. Canyon Wren is a tough bird in the county and has been reported here a few times over the course of the year. So I gave it a try. No luck on the wrens, although I did get Purple Finches (78 for the year for Skamania), calling from beneath the cliffs. Right in around the entrance, I purchased a 30 dollar annual Discover Pass, dropped it on the dash, and eventually somehow lost the darn thing. But for now, at least, I was doing an honest walk. It started with warblers - Yellow-rumped and a smattering of Orange-crowned (79) in the trails meandering south from the main road. 

Horned Grebe in breeding plumage

Down in the coves along the way, I picked up Mallard and Greater Scaup, and some beautiful Horned Grebes in breeding plumage. I made the obligatory effort to turn some of them into Eared Grebes, but was unsuccessful. Some of them got pretty balled up like EAGRs, but the rest of it was off - a nice caution against using body shape as a definitive ID. 

Downy Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers were in the trees here and there. I picked up some Golden-crowned Sparrows, and another new year-bird, White-crowned Sparrow (80).

White Crowned Sparrows

From the very end of the walk, I waited again and listened for Canyon Wrens. It was tough with all of the calls from the Yellow-rumped Warblers. There were at least 50, maybe more, playing through the trees and fish pens, where some even scaled the walls, creeper style, possibly digging bugs out of the crevices? Who knows. There were just a ridiculous num... was a ridicul... hm. There were many Yellow-rumped Warblers. 

Headed back to the car, I found some California Gulls (81) out on the water. I also heard the strangest noise coming from a copse of trees. Naturally, it was a duck. . . in the trees. 

Wood Duck

Red Bluff Road Ponds

Stevenson was my next stop. After a quick stop at the Rock Creek Mill Pond (very quiet), I navigated up and out of town to the Red Bluff Road Ponds. I had a few birds in mind at this stop - Virginia Rail among them. I ended up with some Common Yellowthroats (82), and a brand new sighting for me - Josh, a birder from Stevenson I'd been emailing as the year went along. Once we figured out we were both birding, and got the field marks sorted out, we talked about the birds at the pond. I thought for sure that I was hearing Marsh Wrens. . . not the best Marsh Wren calls, but a nice chittering sound, which is part of their repertoire. I actually had those suckers on my list, but Josh did point out that they had not been seen in a decade or so at those ponds. . . 

I tried Cornell Labs, and pulled up Common Yellowthroat calls, finding one the explained my confusion quite well. Confusion aside, I've wondered about things like this - similar sounds made by birds in a given habitat. Convergent evolution or something of that nature. We checked in on where's and when's of a few birds, and I skedaddled down the road to Strawberry Island. 

Strawberry Island

Osprey

This has been a stop for me twice already this year.  In fact, I checked on my site totals, and after this trip I was at 50 species. Woohoo! 19th best for this place on eBird! hahaha. It's gotten a lot of good attention, and I was happy to just show up when it wasn't raining for once. 

Early in the walk, I got a species that I'd kind of expected all year - Western Meadowlark (83), singing invisibly from well off the trail. This was quickly followed by a flyover of an American Pipit (84). And then nothing for a good long while! Lots of sparrows and a billion unidentifiable swallows way downriver from me. I finally got to where I could see them better, and I sat and enjoyed the swallow thing for a while. I'd settle my binoculars on a spot. . . wait. . . and then follow a swallow as it came into my field of view. . . stay with it until I could identify it, and then drift along with another swallow that popped in, rinse, lather, repeat. I got no new birds this way, but it's awfully nice meditative time. All of it is, really. 

Shame I got here too late for the bluebirds. . . I was thinking when I looked up and saw a Mountain Bluebird (85). 

Mountain Bluebird - The Washington State birding lists say these aren't
seen annually in Skamania, which is surprising to me, because mountains.

Certain that I now had power over the bird universe, I thought "Hermit Thrush would be nice!" Hermit Thrush appeared (86). Got to the end of the trail and summoned a Lincoln's Sparrow into existence with the power of my mind (87). For all of the times that we can't find the damn bird, I sure enjoyed these five minutes!!  After that, my binoculars stopped glowing, and mortality returned. One new bird arrived, not unexpected, but not like. . . weirdly expected: Cliff Swallow (88), swooping along Hamilton Creek's outflow to the Columbia. 

The Lincoln's Sparrow falls into a group of birds that I just associate with this week in April. Hammond's Flycatcher, Hermit Thrush, Greater White-fronted Geese. . . maybe even Bonaparte's Gull. It's not that I *expect* them, because. . . in the immortal words of the late, great, Pete Fahey: "Birds fly."  But there's definitely a push for these birds at this time of year, and one feels glad to have been out at the right time when stumbling on any of them this week. 

Work!

With a walk under my belt and a good number of birds, I started to circle back towards Bingen. In order to make it a proper circle, I actually took a left, and went uphill a little ways to the fair hamlet of Carson. I got a little turned around looking for Backwoods Brewing Company, which gave me a chance to unsuccessfully search for doves - Band-tailed, Eurasian Collared, Mourning - nearly any pigeon or dove. It seemed like a good area for it, but I came up empty, eventually just finding Backwoods, tucked behind a strip mall. 

Honestly - visit Backwoods Brewing *despite* this picture of it! 
Lovely place, but I forgot to snap a pic until I was leaving. 

I'd been here years before on a Father's Day trip. It's not uncommon at all for me to turn Father's Day into a not-birding trip. Finding a hike or something else to do in a county where I might pick up a new bird. . . or might not, but will still enjoy the place, and the faint tingle of possibility. I sat down, plugged in, and waded through some of the upcoming writing I needed to finish. I also got bird observations entered, which is always nice when they are relatively fresh. I am sans smartphone, so I don't get to enter eBird observations as I walk. It also means that I don't have to. . . as I walk. . . "Oh. That's another Song Sparrow.". . . stop. . . poke at a screen. . . "Oh! five more kinglets!" . . . stop. . . poke at a screen. 

There are tradeoffs. 

I got the *small* sampler of their beverages. Six! The "normal" size is 12! Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, they could call that the "large sampler", but it's neither here nor there, I suppose. It was good beer, and it was good pizza, and it was a good background bustle that helps keep me focused and working. 

Content, I hopped in the car and started a little Harlequin Duck Hunt. 

A little Harlequin Duck Hunt

I went up Wind River Road and saw on the way up that the river was hugging the road fairly well all the way up. It was always on the right side of the road. . . which is the side we drive on. . . but not the side we sit on. Gosh there are times when I wish I was driving a British car. I was determined that on the way down, I'd pull over to the other si... GROUSE!

As I was mapping this out in my head, I breezed past the Ruffed Grouse standing on the side of the road. It sat there as I pulled to a stop. It sat there as I took a crappy picture of it. It sat there as I cursed my photography skills and adjusted the focus. It flew once I was ready to get a good pic. Laughing. 

lol. I can see it. But I can also see you not seeing it, so don't worry.

I include this as a fun lil "Where's Waldo?" Can you find the Ruffed Grouse (89) in the picture? 

As I was saying. . . on the way down, I'd pull over to the left side of the road, and crawl along the gravel shoulder when possible, looking for Harlequin Ducks sitting on rocks along the way. I've done this before with some success, and I love just taking in the sound of the river as I go. American Dipper (90) and a rattling Hairy Woodpecker (91) were consolation prizes. 

Wind River

Cook Underwood Road

I got back to "The Four", and then turned back uphill when I got to Cook-Underwood Road. This took me past a little batch of Wild Turkeys (92), and some California Quail - not easy to find in the county. With this, I had come back to the end of the county and returned to the hostel in Bingen to really plow through some writing. I was a little bummed, as I simply didn't have enough done to warrant slipping away for the compliment... complem... the free soak that comes with a stay at the hostel. But it was still a comfortable, productive evening to finish a nice birding day in Skamania. 

Day 13 in the books!