September 5th - Skamania and Clark

Gotta get back in the. . . 

Black-backed Woodpeckers are fun birds. I haven't seen a whole lot of them over the years, but I did come across one, actually on the 4th of September. My vehicle, after three weeks in an auto repair place, waiting for a new engine, was finally ready to go. I got my son moved into the dorms again at Central, and took the back-back road to Yakima, over Ellensburg Pass, on the way to pay my mom a visit. Yakima was home as I was growing up, and as such, I'd really love to get the species total to 200 (which would require a single new bird!). I hoped for White-headed Woodpeckers up there in the Ponderosa habitat, but *only* came away with a Black-backed Woodpecker.

I know - Yakima isn't a county I'm "doing" this year! But A) It's so rare that I get half-decent photos of some interesting birds. I had to share. and 2) It helps explain part of the exploration the next day. 

Wicky Shelter

Wicky Shelter is a campsite and trailhead just south of Mount Adams. It's where I started this trip on the 5th, driving up after dinner with Mom, and camping in the car. I'd missed some valuable time in Skamania, and had my fingers crossed for several birds, including Black-backed Woodpeckers. 

I was up at civil twilight, and it was brisk to say the least! But I got the day started with some coffee, enjoying the spacious protected picnic area. Very early on, I heard some of the tap-tap-tapping that I'd been hope-hope-hoping for. The bird was not as cooperative as the woodpecker up on Ellensburg Pass! That said, it did vocalize, and matched the slightly wooden "peek" call I'd heard the day before. I circled the copse of trees, and just could not find the silly thing. 

I saw a trailhead and figured of course it would lead me to some other less skulky woodpeckers, along with some of the other birds missing from my year list. It really did not! The trail was lined with Douglas Maple, snowberry, and vanilla leaf, along with other plants. There was just enough of this growth impinging low on the trail to create a near-constant swish swish, making it hard to walk AND listen for birds. When I did occasionally stop, I would listen to the silence, occasionally picking up some other distant woodpeckers - both Pileated, and Northern Flicker. 

I tried calling for Northern Pygmy Owl and was shocked at just how many Red-breasted Nuthatches and Chestnut-backed Chickadees there were in the area! Together with some Yellow-rumped Warblers, they clustered in the tops of trees nearby, and provided at least an interesting ruckus of noise during my walk back to the car. 

At the car, I immediately heard the same tapping and calls from the same trees. I looked. . . looked. . . and then went a little wide-eyed as a Black-backed Woodpecker came flying out, pretty much directly at me! I'd been looking at the pictures from the previous day and enjoyed picking up some of the field marks that I would otherwise have not known to look for. No pictures on this one, but a very satisfactory look. 130! That was the new year total for Skamania, after weeks and weeks of stalled progress. 

I tried a little bit more calling for Northern Pygmy-Owl, and was now successful, with a NOPO coming in to investigate in some nearby trees. Some of the birds mentioned above also came in to investigate! 

Northern Pygmy-Owl (131)

Two new birds! It still left me 19 birds short of the goal for the year, but it was early enough in the day. I started back to the car, and once again heard tapping. This time from a different tree. The lighting wasn't the *best* but I finally got on the bird and found it was a Williamson's Sapsucker! (132). 

Williamson's Sapsucker

I wasn't hearing any of the songbirds or finches I'd hoped to have in this area, so I tried slowly driving back down 8040 towards Trout Lake. A couple stops brought me a few more birds, including singing House Wren (133) and Cassin's Vireo (134). This was a huge score, as they wouldn't be expected for much longer in the county for the year. I also got some finches! Red Crossbill (135), and Pine Siskin (136) had been hard to find during the previous year. Sometimes finches are just like that! I wasn't banking on them making a comeback, but they were present throughout the morning. 

Waiting round the bend. My. . .

Huckleberry fields were posted left and right as I drove through Trout Lake, and then westward towards Skamania County again. A huckleberry muffin and a cup of coffee from Trout Lake fueled me as I did a lazy explore down forest roads towards the Columbia. Stopping at one field (where more finches put on a show), I actually found some ripe huckleberries at my feet. Absolutely delicious!

I drove down Carson-Guler Road and then down FR 66. I had a vague recollection of driving some of this stretch with my ex-wife many years ago. We'd done the drive not for huckleberries, but for a view of the Big Lava Bed. Funny how many years ago that was, and somehow it's only now that I found out that this lava bed is not related to that little eruption we had back in 1980. It's funny in retrospect. I knew that there had been mudflows, not lava flows, per se. 

Everywhere, trees have pushed up through the lava bed. 

8000 and more years ago, there was a cinder cone that was the source of all of this lava. On this day, I actually parked the car at one point, and tromped up to the edge of the road, getting enough elevation to look out and enjoy the view a little more. Apparently, there is a cratered peak somewhere in the middle of all of this - hikable, and now holding a meadow within. It's the kind of thing I absolutely would have gotten to, had Skamania been my only county this year. I registered this thought, reminding myself to come back to it some day when I was plotting out the next course. 

More meadows, more lakes, but no new birds, and I finally descended all the way to the Columbia. 

One of the many bits of prairie off of FR 66 that I wish I had visited earlier in the Season!
Red-Shouldered Hawk has been seen recently somewhere around here. 

Hardy har. . . 

Common Mergansers

Harlequin Ducks were having a laugh at me this year, it would seem. I had tried for them in May, again in June/July, and I tried one more time on this trip. They frequent the Little White Salmon Fish Hatchery during breeding season. This trip was right on the tail end of that season however. They may have gone for the year, or perhaps were tucked back behind the hatchery. Either way, they were nowhere to be found. Plenty of Common Mergansers were getting some family time in, all along the river. I also failed to find the Canyon Wrens that have been found off and on here throughout the year. 

Neither of these birds were "counted on". I had a good long list of possibilities in my head, and just tried to get to the right spots. The next spot was Home Valley Park. I'd seen that shorebirds were occasionally reported from this spot, although it was hard for me to imagine exactly where they would find any good mud!

I went to the sailboard launch and walked down to the water, where my questions were answered. 

Least Sandpiper (137) and Western Sandpiper (138)

Two Western Sandpipers and a Least Sandpiper were working the muddy shore, giving some nice side-by-side views, and even a brief flight where the size differences were a little more apparent. Shorebirds are tough in Skamania! So, this was definitely a little wind in my sails. 

Robert Louis . . .

Stevenson was where I had hoped to find Northern Shovelers. See. . . they are sold to us as a Code 1 bird. But I think it's a scam. I think just like Big Oil and Big Pharma, Big Shoveler is out there working at levels that we just aren't aware of. This was one of the last Code 1 birds for me in the county. I'd seen nearly no sightings of them in the early months of the year... or migration...or breeding season. to be a code 1 bird, they have to be. . . like, present at *some* point, yeah? I'd asked my friend Wilson about this at each of those steps, and it's alllways been "Oh they'll be here soon." I'm telling you... it's impossible to know, even with friends... Big Shoveler has got so many people in their pockets. Or. . . maybe in those long bills? 

Purple Martins are another bird that has been hard to stumble upon. I'm sure there must be gourds in the county, but I keep failing to ask, and . . . unsurprisingly, I keep failing to find Purple Martins! I gave the waterfront a good long look and stopped at the Rock Creek Mill Pond. The regular Canada Geese, and the Domestic-ish Goostrosities were present, but I saw no big bills, heard no syruppy churp churrps. It was getting close to lunch, but I pressed on. 

Strawberry Island just down the road had been the site of a Red-shouldered Hawk sighting, as well as some other interesting birds, such as Lewis's Woodpeckers, and . . . Northern Shovelers. 

It was pretty quiet on the trail, and I caught very little of interest on the treetops as I walked. Nearly back to the car, I finally got them - a family of Northern Shovelers (139) out on the Columbia. 

Or did I? ;)

Stop freakin, call. . . 

Beacon Rock State Park was a necessary side-of-the-road stop, with the possibility of Canyon Wren and Peregrine Falcon, both of which I'd had here in the past. You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take, right? I missed this one too, however. At one point, a woodpecker with broad wings zipped overhead and into the trees. I tried to think about size and shape for the possibility of a Lewis's Woodpecker, and even took a small trip down the path on the East side of the Rock. But the bird seemed to have dissolved right into the trees. Both species are there year-round, so I was okay with the idea of continuing up to Skamania Landing.

At times, Skamania Landing is nice and muddy. I'd actually stumbled on (and failed to identify) a single shorebird here months and months back. On this particular day, it was mud-free. Totally full of water. I frowned and looked off to the other side of the road, where a little slough had some Wood Ducks, turtles, and. . . a Green Heron! (140).

Green Heron. Anyone else think that only Jim Henson could dream up this creature? :D

This was a nice surprise. Getting things to 140 was a treat. It made things feel like they were in reach. (see page at left for running totals and needs lists for more on that).

My final stop was at St. Cloud Wayside. Ripe apples on the ground gave a lovely scent to the air, and the spot once again provided some dragonflies, but there were otherwise no new or particularly interesting birds at this stop. Had I been able to get here back in August, there had been hopes of finding Red-eyed Vireos here, but they would be long gone by now. 

The googles are telling me. . . Variegated Meadowhawk. Definitely a new creature for me!

Clark, that's. . . 

Semipalmated Plover

The gift that keeps giving the whole year has been Steigerwald. But all reports seemed to be pointing me to Shillapoo Lake. Situated on the West side of Vancouver, it has been just far enough outside of civilization to feel "away". Between mid-August and my trip, roughly 20 species of shorebirds had been seen at the lake, ranging from Ruddy Turnstone to American Avocet. 

I arrived, and quickly picked up a bird that I'd been worried about missing for the year, Vaux's Swift (138 for my Clark list - new parentheticals start here!). They were ubiquitous throughout my late afternoon walk, joined by Barn Swallows, and a single Bank (139!) that I was able to pick out of the pack, first by sound, then by sight. 

Baird's and Least Sandpiper

No American Bittern though! These birds are hard to miss in Clark County, but. . . I have a talent for these things. ;) I scanned the edges of the muddy lake and found nothing but a Northern Harrier. Early on, I picked up two new year birds, a Semipalmated Plover (140), and a Baird's Sandpiper (141). Both species had been seen and reported, but it was nice to have them at short distances where identification was easier. Walking the North side of the lake, many of the birds were backlit. So, I decided to just walk the whole thing, and then slowly make my way back, eyeing the shorebirds under better lighting. 

One nice surprise as I walked was a call from a California Quail (142)! This bird was definitely not on my radar for the day, let alone for the year. It was encouraging to see a report from not just the same day, but the same part of the lake. 

Plenty of American Goldfinches around the lake

At some point, the autofocus on my camera was not doing a good job of guessing what I wanted to focus on. So. . . yeah. . . I may have turned it off, with hopes of dialing things in and getting focused on the birds I wanted. . . and. . . then I may have forgotten to turn autofocus back on. lol. Add to this, sometimes the birds were a bit far off. If I couldn't get a couple dozen birds picked out well in binoculars, I'd get the camera on them, take some shots, and move along. It's just that. . . I got home and found a lot of blurry shots! Nonetheless, I did come away with a few other new birds on the walk: Western Sandpiper (143), Lesser Yellowlegs (144) at Shillapoo, and then two more gulls, Ring-billed (145), and Glaucous-winged (146), at Vancouver Lake, and a nearby field respectively. 

146! This was exactly what I'd been hoping for with the trip to Shillapoo, and in the end, I think that the year goals are still intact. Having Clark *done* would have made for an even smoother ride, but I can be pretty picky about how I get those last birds now. 

Even after missing a month and more, the goal seems within reach!