April 12th - Perseverance

 

Context for this image will come later, but it's a theme that fits the birding year right here, and one that has popped up in images in my blogs before (scroll down to "into the clouds"). I think there is something powerful about being at a high point, and being able to see another high point, and a seemingly impassable expanse below. It requires some faith and perseverance to press on when the rewards start to thin out. In the case of these traverses, you are forced to head down to a lower elevation where you will surely lose sight of the high points you spied before. You just have to trust that you're on the right path. 

I think the image from the Chelan County Blog maybe captured it better. Fog below, and really no picture at all of how to get from A to B. This picture is a little different. The road is visible below, and I'd developed a picture of the area up above from previous trips. The birding year I've had in Douglas kind of matches this. A lot of birds came early in the year, and there's a little bit of a pause here, a dip in the numbers as spring takes its time to arrive in earnest. But there's progress. It's encouraging. There's a sense of how I'm going to reach the finish line even now. 

I liked the picture, in part because of what it means for me in life right now. Although I figure it's okay for an author to go off-program now and then, I still do hope someone else finds geographical inspiration from this, or at least the freedom to look at awesome things in the world, and to translate some of that awesomeness to the Things We are Doing in Life.

Balance

After an early turn-in (I think the sun was still up when I closed my eyes), I got up early, brewed some coffee, and did some writing. End of day Monday deadlines were out there, and I needed to at least get a start on some of the work before heading out the door. This was in some ways off-script for me. I *always* get out early for owls, but that doesn't actually mean always. I plugged along until I saw the morning light coming in through the windows, and decided to head out and start my birding day. 

Rock Island

My first stop of the day was actually Union Hill Cider Company, where I had arranged to meet with one of the owners to pick up my quarterly cider. I stopped in their place in January, and kind of fell in love with their cider. They work with some pretty cool apple varietals and methods, and the results are just flat-out tasty. 

On the way there, I saw a huge flock of geese overhead and had the wherewithal to stop and check them out in binoculars. This is really something, because if I lack anything it is wherewithal. But geese were on my radar for this trip and I'd found nothing on the previous day. Good thing I looked, as I found five Snow Geese (126) mixed in with the Canadas. The parenthetical numbers are the running tally of species for the year - the same list can be found in taxonomic order here. 

I got to Union Hill, and immediately got mauled by a German Shepherd. I'm fine with dogs, so it was easy for me to interpret this mauling as a friendly getting-to-know-you thing! The owner (of the dog, and part-owner of Union Hill) chastised the puppy and welcomed me in to pick up my half-case. 

As we chatted, I got to talking about wood. I have been collecting coffee mugs from each county in the state, and was thinking it would be nice to make a mug holder display of sorts. In my head, it'll be a map of the state, with each county puzzle-pieced into it with a different kind of wood. Each one of these pieces will have a hook for the mug, etc etc. For Douglas, then, I was thinking some apple wood from Union Hill would be appropriate. Getting a piece won't be a problem, it would appear, and I'm planning to pick something up in May. He did talk to me about how apple wood is prone to splitting unless it is dried properly. I'm pretty excited at the prospect now, and especially if it is something that will require some care with the wood. Updates will come as they are available. 

The Rock Island Ponds were just a short drive from here. I think I was going there with a sense that Golden-crowned sparrow would be the Bird I Needed To Find, and that other species were possible, but not urgent. Hammond Lake held most of the usual suspects, so I made my way up to Hideaway Lake. The biggest immediate help was the swarm of swallows over the lake. Barn, Northern Rough-winged, and Violet-green were present, and I added Tree (127) and Cliff Swallow (128) as well. 

Ducks and swallows over the ponds of Rock Island

Then I walked from the parking lot, about twenty feet past the little gate, and pished. I was excited to find a Lincoln's Sparrow (129) popping up into the thickets at the water's edge. (remember those two sentences)

The lake itself still held no Northern Shovelers - birds I really hoped to find, but I soon realized that I was hearing calls from Evening Grosbeaks (130). It took a little work to improve my view of the grosbeaks from completely obscured to partially obscured, but it was worth it.

Evening Grosbeak

The rest of the soundtrack for the morning was a funny contrast between Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers. The kinglets have this long, rambling, excited song - it sounds like an exciting story. If we could translate bird talk, I'd want to know the content. Yellow-rumped Warblers, on the other hand, start off all excited, like they're adding on to the story the kinglets just told, but then. . . in the middle of the story, they read the room, or realize internally that this is not a great story, and they just kind of trail off. 

Continuing on to Big Bow Lake, I walked from the parking lot, about twenty feet past the little gate, and pished. I was excited to find a Lincoln's Sparrow popping up into the thickets at the water's edge. This of course will have me checking (at least on April 14th in all future years) all such thickets similarly placed near parking lots on lakes in the future. *That* is Lincoln's Sparrow habitat. 

I kept looking for a Golden-crowned Sparrow, but could not turn one up amongst the handful of White-crowned Sparrows at either lake. I hopped in the car. . . and decided to go West. The Palisades were tempting for sure, but I was kind of excited to head up Highway 2, which had been closed for my last two trips along the stretch from Orondo to Waterville. 

Up Highway 2

There weren't a lot of birds in this stretch of the trip, so if you're just here for the birds, head on down to the next bolded item. If you're an explorer, read on.

I'd mentioned before that the elevation change from the Columbia to the Waterville Plateau is significant and awesome. As I made my way up, it was interesting to see that someone else seemed to agree with me. I wish I had taken pictures of the signs, but there were basically elevation markers along the road all the way up. Another thing to note as you head up, there are these rocks - you won't miss them - that have been painted and graffitied by high schoolers, political activists, and other members of the Motivated Class. I honestly have not figured out how they got to these rocks. Hats off to these people. Check out the rocks as you head up the grade, and be amazed. 

I stopped once just because I couldn't stand driving past the same flowers and rocks so many times without some kind of a picture. 

Top: This is balsamroot, part of the aster family (which includes sunflowers). This stuff was everywhere, and was not a familiar plant to me. It's just beautiful. I think people drive through sageland maybe at the wrong time of year, but this was a plant that was dotted around the landscape in many places and just made it beautiful.

Middle: Serviceberry. This was a shrub (tree?) I saw in many places, and had to get a picture. The berries are (ostensibly) edible, and similar to blueberries, which has me pretty excited. I've enjoyed trying edibles, from leaves to fruits, a little more in my local area in recent years, and would love to find some naturesnacks over the course of this year.

Bottom: Split rocks. I just took this picture because it captured geological processes on a few different scales. I'm not a geology guy. I'm a physics/astronomy guy who somehow got tangled up in all of this ornithology. But as a science writer, one does not always get to pick the topics! In the last few years, I've had occasion to dig into geology more deeply, and processes similar to this have popped up for me pretty recently. 

landscapes from Highway 2

It's worth noting that this entire area is just bizarre. It took people some time to figure it out, but the periodic massive ice age flooding led to some landscapes and features that defy most other geological patterns. It has been interesting to learn about how scientists were working so hard to get past the idea of biblical floods that it was difficult for them to accept the idea that. . . no, there were actually some crazy enormous floods in this region that left behind some crazy crazy features.

I pulled the car over when I got to "Number two road", which leads into Pine Canyon. This is about where Highway 2 was closed in months past, and I started to understand why , to some extent. After a few switchbacks, I ended up parking near a gated residential community. The road appeared to continue up above where I parked, so I figured "Why not walk it?"

Common Mullein or "Boy Scout's toilet paper"

I walked up the very first switchback, and got to a gate, preventing me from continuing! I was not completely surprised. It seems that there are a lot of interesting places that have been worth gating off in one way or another by the people that own the land. As I started back down, I realized that I had actually passed a partially obscured continuation of the road I had been on. 

There were no signs saying "don't go here" (a formality that is rarely skipped in this county), so I continued up the road. Tyee View Loop Road appears to have been the name of this road, but its days as a path for vehicle transportation has passed. 

There were nearly no birds here. I got Cassin's Finch and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and. . . a lot of quiet. It was so neat to walk along this road where huge chunks had eroded way, where rockslides had covered large bits. Geology was just showing that, in this case, human construction was not a significant factor.

I actually stumbled across a chair along the "road", next to a large ponderosa pine with the quote: "Walk Tall" - Big Ben. Special spot that I stumbled on. I didn't take a seat, but enjoyed the view.

This was around where I took the picture from the start of the post. This view, just to be clear, is from the foothills of Badger Mountain. Badger Mountain Road, in fact, has a spur that continues right into Tyee Valley View Road. I didn't walk too too far up the road, as reaching a crest suddenly exposed the walk to some cold wind. I called it quits on the walk and turned back towards the car. 

One thing that struck me on the way down was how pretty the road had become. This picture may only hint at it, and even then only with a generous zoom, but the sun was hitting some of the quartz that had been weathered away from the rocks and deposited on the road. Without any distractions from birds, I enjoyed little things like this on the way down. 

Waterville to Jack's Resort

Highway 2 took me right to Waterville. I actually turned South from there to hit the Waterville STP. This is a wonderful place with some great birds. It also happens to not be available for public visits. I don't know if that has always been the case, but a careful look at the signs confirmed what I had heard from others. From the road, I was still able to scope out some distant Northern Shovelers (131), which had been reported there from earlier in the day. 

I wanted to stop in Waterville for lunch, but nowhere was quite open yet, so I continued onward. I do promise to come back and spend some time in this town!

Down Highway 2, one eventually comes to Moses Coulee, with options to head South, or North to Jameson Lake, and Jack's resort. The latter was my destination, and I hoped that there would be a restaurant there, perhaps.

The drive up Jameson Lake Road seemed promising, with talus littered at the feet of basalt cliffs. I was hoping for Rock Wren or White-throated Swift, but got neither. Jameson Lake itself was full of ducks, including huge numbers of Redheads. I also saw a Hooded Merganser - a bird that was pretty common earlier in the year, but I only saw this one time during my April trip. 

The resort itself was closed, which wasn't clear from their website. Some searching when I got back revealed that fire had reached the resort back in September. The story I found was brief, but it didn't sound great. I've reached out to the resort to see if there are any updates I can add here. It was really a place I had hoped to visit. If they do reopen, I'll be sure to do so.

Osprey - Jameson Lake

Try, try again

At this point, I made a trip through the East side ponds that I had visited the previous day: Atkins, 6th and N, Jolly's, and Highway 17. Atkins Lake was once more, just a wide swath of lightly damp earth. The body of water off to the West of it (Atkins Jr?) continued to hold no more than a handful of Northern Pintails. 

"Atkins Junior" - see what happens if you don't name bodies of water, folks?

At Saint Andrews Farms, I stopped again with dreams of a Virginia Rail, and got something expected but unexpected - Ring-necked Pheasant (132). As noted in the previous day's post, these birds have been hiding pretty well, despite all of this travel through good habitat. Hearing a pheasant crow in the distance was a small victory. Now it's just those Gray Partridge holding out.

6th and N was where I hit the mini-jackpot. Black-necked Stilts! (133). There was also a small group of Greater Yellowlegs that had not been there just one day earlier. My late friend Pete Fahey was a font of wisdom, and in this case would have explained the observation with, "Birds. Fly." The cast of characters can change pretty quickly in a good spot during migration. A Savannah Sparrow (134) popped up onto a wire at this site as well.

Jolly's Pond and Highway 17 pond had no surprises, and the Dunlin from the previous day had exited the latter site. This is the point where I went down Highway 2 and found a Great Egret, as mistakenly described in my April 11th post. This is the risk of going to a lot of places twice in consecutive days on little sleep!

Back door to the Palisades

I swung down Whitehall Road, and actually dipped into Grant County for a little bit before coming back up to Road 24, where I had started birding on Sunday. Here I saw a hawk on the ground. My first thought: Ferruginous Hawk! They often perch on the ground, and I had been down in this end of the county in hopes of stumbling across one. 

I got a good look at the bird, and my second thought was "Nope. Red-tailed Hawk." This was a dark bird, most 'rugies are lightly colored, and most RTHA sized birds are actually RTHAs. 

The bird flew up to a post, and I couldn't quite see the tail at first glance. I did, however see the folded wings, and they were cleanly dark without the typical white "backpack straps" that a Red-tailed Hawk might have. So my third thought at this point was "This is not a Red-tailed Hawk. 

I got pictures, and figured I'd look later. When I pulled it up and saw no white chin patch, my fourth thought was "This is not a Swainson's Hawk." A quick internet search led me to images that, on some points, matched my image pretty well.

So my fifth thought was an excited, "This is a dark morph Ferruginous Hawk!" My sixth thought was thankfully the thought that I was likely wrong on this point, so I reached out to Tweeters, the local birding listserv with a query. 

"One thing I'll tell you it's not is a Ferruginous Hawk," was one reply from a birder who pointed out that FEHAs have feathered tarsi (fluffy legs), and this bird had no such thing. Again a quick search, and *every* image I found of these hawks showed me quickly that the bird pictured was not a Ferruginous Hawk. This was my. . . what are we up to? I think my 7th thought.

My 8th thought was delivered by several respondents, "That's a Swainson's Hawk." (135) It took a little more searching on this one, but it turns out that thought number four above was in error. Dark morph Swainson's Hawks aren't rocking the white goatee.

This. . .was a lot of typing for a single bird, which might be a nice break for people who have been wondering when I'd actually talk about birds in this blog! For me, the experience was valuable - as a wet-sider, the opportunities to see Ferruginous and Swainson's Hawks are nearly non-existent, and Red-tails are so variable that . . . a set of quick "tells" has not fully developed in this birder. Not yet. We'll see how much of this sticks!

I continued along the road towards the Palisades. No new birds here, just stunning views, and a single Chukar - my only one for this particular trip. 

Wrap up

I got back to the Cedars Inn, and it was a full evening and morning of writing before I was clear to slip out of the hotel at 9 AM. I made one stop at Porter's Pond on the Columbia on the way out, and found three Greater-white Fronted Geese (136). At this point, I was pretty content to make my way home. 

April brought me a nice bird list, and some restoration. Birds I missed? Sandhill Crane was actually the one that was most expected, and one where I'm a little worried down the road that I'll miss. Greater Sage-Grouse would have fallen into the same category if it wasn't on such a steep decline in the county. So I'd say the pleasant surprises outweighed these misses by quite a bit. Continuing to trust in some good spots and returning certainly paid off several times. 

May. . . there are so many birds coming in May. I haven't even really started to plan that trip out, but it's going to be a doozy!

Until then.

April 11th - Sage and Shorebirds

 

Sagebrush Sparrow

I was happy with this picture. As my photos have gone, this falls in the not-half-bad category. And this was a not-half-bad trip. Beautiful weather, easy navigation, good birds, and some honest-to-goodness restoration.

But how did I get there to see that bird?? I saw sunup in Douglas County, but it's worth noting that some time around 10 PM, I was still sitting with my kids in Renton. We'd called it quits on an evening of playing cards, and the conversation had shifted to "What are the Good Changes that have happened in your life because of COVID?"

This was purely their construction. I think this is typically the kind of conversation one would force on kids to help them recognize silver linings, etc., but the kids pulled this one right out of the blue on me, and they were ready to talk. They shared what they shared; I shared what I shared; too much more gets a little personal, but I feel like I found at least one common thread. Similar to COVID itself, we all have things in our life that are most likely to run their course with a little rest, and a little isolation. Not everything falls in this category - Lord knows there are mental health and other personal challenges that are best met with close, frequent support from others. But still, it was interesting to see how much the kids valued the space they had for a time. Space to just be themselves, and reflect, to grow and decide.

Weird way to start off a birding blog, but yaknow. . . later when I explain that I set off for Eastern Washington on three hours of sleep, or when I explain that I never really got out to look for owls this time around. . . it helps put the pieces together. For gosh sakes, maybe these other times where I've been out the door quicker, it has begged the question, "Don't you have better things to do with your time?" I do. Many of them revolve around those two amazing young people who help my growth as much as I try to help them with theirs. Work even sneaks its way into this trip. 

A big year (or whatever you would call this close cousin of a big year that I'm doing this year) has some immense value. It does push the boundary at times with cost/reward considerations - and I'm not talking money here. Sitting now on the other side of the trip, it's nice to say that I have zero regrets about birds missed due to other obligations. Easy to say because... it was a nice trip, but it's still worth saying. Balance is okay.

Back to our regularly scheduled program

2 AM. I was up at 2 AM, ready to hit the road. Not completely ready, but mostly ready. While I would normally have been working to get my camping stuff ready, especially for an April trip, when more campgrounds would be open. I didn't need to this time around. Some writing work had been offered in the week leading up to the trip - short notice work that would mean working a little during the trip, and working with WIFI. When the project pay exceeds the cost of a hotel room, it becomes very easy to make this adjustment. 

I wanted to see the sun rise over the sage in Douglas County. 

Sunrise over the sage - Douglas County

I came to Douglas a different way this time around, driving all the way to Ephrata, then angling up on Sagebrush Flats Road. Road 24 SE actually runs along the Grant/Douglas line, and served as the baseline for my birding that morning. Some species, like Ferruginous Hawk and Burrowing Owl, are more common in Grant than Douglas, so I thought I'd at least put myself as close to Grant as possible to start. A nocturnal spring sighting of Short-eared Owl a few years back also served as some hopeful inspiration.

I followed Road 24 West until it took its sharp bend Southward, bringing it entirely into Grant. I parked the car, stepped out and listened. First off, I want to say that it was cold. I recall my car was telling me that it was 18 degrees outside, although this hardly seems plausible. As noted, I was on three hours of sleep, and my car may have similarly been a little groggy at 6 AM. But I know for a fact that it was a bit brisk!

As I listened in the twilight, I could hear the sage birds were anything but groggy. Brewer's Sparrows (106), and Vesper Sparrows (107) were the most noticeable songs on both sides of the road. The numbers in parentheses, incidentally, are the running tally for the year. They appear chronologically here, but can also be found taxonomically on the page at right, "Running Tally and Needs List". These birds are ones whose songs are pretty familiar, despite the fact that I don't hear them annually. 

Vesper is a little similar to a Song Sparrow, but the beginning is distinctive. For me it had always been "Baa Baa Black Sheep", and then it kind of trails off into a complex run from there. Michael, a birder from the wet side of the state where I live, described it as "Baa Baa Black Sheep Idon'tremembertherestofthewords", which fits pretty well. Brewer's gives an insect-like trill that kind of reminds me at times of a sprinkler. You know how sprinklers can be set to move through an arc (tikka tikka tikka tikka), and then move back (br-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r)? They sound like the second part. A little. To me. These are often personal things, but it works for me!

Western Meadowlark, American Robin, and even a Spotted Towhee joined in. I have to say that this hour right around dawn was the busiest time for singing by far. I got to hear songs from all of these birds later in the day, but it did become more sparse. 

Just past a cattle guard, I found a little road/trail leading North into the Douglas County half of the area I was in. I looked this over pretty carefully, as I don't want to be a scofflaw with private property. As I walked, the fence on my left had No Trespassing signs that kept me thinking that I was in the "not trespassing" section, as it were. 

Phlox (species?)

As the sun rose higher, I got to see all kinds of things that pointed towards this as decent Short-eared Owl habitat: Sage, farmland, cliffs for nesting... I thought all of these were positive indicators, but clearly not good enough for the owls on this particular morning. I scanned in all directions periodically, imagining that I would spy one cruising in the distance. 

At my feet, I found a few different flowers in bloom. I figured it was only the start of the wildflower show in the sagebrush.

I got within view of a little marsh and pond, but started to sense that this was the end of the road, or something close to it, so I walked it back to the car, and went East to C road. This road turned out to be pretty productive! I got a chance to see the sparrows I'd only heard earlier in the morning, and I also found my first Sagebrush Sparrow (108), and Sage Thrasher (109) for the year. My brain explodes when it gets a hold of unfamiliar songs, and this was a treat on both counts.

Sagebrush Sparrow

I honestly really loved the Sagebrush Sparrow song. It's a mumbly song that rises and falls. It has the same feel of like. . . something someone would sing while washing dishes, possibly with a song they enjoy but one where they don't know all the words. I loved it. The Sage Thrasher was a fun find. It's a code 1 bird in the county, so not a huge surprise, but I don't get to see and hear them all that often.

And just to reassure the reader, that my normal standards of bird photography have not been cast aside:

Vesper Sparrow (It honestly hurts my eyes to look at this one... my eyes are trying to make it focus)

Brewer's Sparrow 

Sage Thrasher 

Yep. I could have taken more, but I was both happy, and antsy to Ease on Down the Road.

Ponds and Lakes in Eastern Douglas County:

Yellow-headed Blackbird

This is where I was headed after my trip through the sage (which was, incidentally, South and a little West of this area). There's actually a green area due South of 4, and almost due West of 6 where I stopped to pick through a blackbird flock. This gave me two new species for the year, Yellow-headed Blackbird (110), and Brewer's Blackbird (111). 

Atkins Lake, my first stop, confused me a bit. I had al this water at 1 on the map, but Atkins Lake is technically at 2... and it was just damp mud. I was certain that someone had moved the lake. The motives and methods for moving lakes ran through my mind as I continued North. 

6th and N NE was a nice bit of water with some promising mud, but no new birds. I was at this point looking for several possibilities: Cinnamon Teal, Virginia Rail, Wilson's Snipe, Dunlin, Greater Yellowlegs, Northern Shoveler, American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Spotted Sandpiper, Sandhill Crane, Snow Goose, and Greater White-fronted Goose. With all of these possibilities, I was getting a little discouraged as I went from pond to pond, usually finding some American Wigeon, some coots, some Redheads, and some Ring-necked Ducks. 

Jolly's Pond and many many ducks

My last stop was the Highway 17 pond. Yep, no other name for it, and it's not even the only pond on Highways 17! But this was worth the stop, as I found one of the true target birds of the trip: Dunlin (112).

Dunlin - Black bellies visible

I'd made a decision to come a little earlier in April in part because these Code 3 birds seemed to be a little more common earlier in the month. I'm expecting more shorebirds to be out there in May, and fall migration ought to be a bonanza, but this was a satisfying find.

Not what I expected

I spent the next few hours on a pretty wide exploration in the East part of the county. First I went down towards the Ankeny Boat Launch. . . again. I'd been disappointed by this spot every single time this year. It's a corner of Banks Lake that is just inside Douglas County, and Banks Lake has some amazing birds swim through over the course of a year. . . But my expectations were low. 

As I came down Highway 2, I could see the lake in front of me, with Highway 2 cutting along the Southern edge. I was able to see something pop up out of a pothole lake on the South side of the highway (all Grant County), and pulled over to get binoculars on it. Great Egret! (113) This one puzzled me a little, as I figured I'd have to wait until May to stumble across one, but these birds are kind of set up to surprise. They have been moving their way Northward into the state over the last few decades, slowly increasing in abundance and range over time. A little peek through eBird later showed that there have been sightings on the Columbia down in Yakima County within the past week or two, so I was okay with this in the end. 

For the handful of people that love knowing *exactly* where the county lines are for these situations

The rest of this time was spent following my GPS to what it told me were lakes. Certainly there were some that were visible from the road, yes? Noooooope. Time and time again, I ended up at a gate. The final stop was near these enormous lakes off of Road W: 

Road W - East of Highway 17, Douglas County

I could see the lakes, and I could see the road running along the South side of the West Lake. I could even hear the crazy chainsaw buzz of Yellow-headed Blackbirds in the wetlands surrounding the lake. I passed a fellow at the house you can see right at the end of W... and then saw what was clearly looking like a driveway. I stopped, turned around, and rolled down the window. 

"Can I help you?"

"Well, I'm a birdwatcher, and I was just following my GPS, and I thought. . ."

I paused, and reached out through The Force, giving my hand a gentle turn through the air, 

"... I could just drive through here and take a look at the lake."

...

"Yeah, the county road ends there." The man pointed to the spot where I'd turned around, showing absolutely no signs of susceptibility to Jedi Mind Tricks. This was all for the better. I nodded, taking just long enough to give him a chance to offer, but there were, to be honest, many more places to explore. I earnestly wished him a good day and turned it back around. 

Highway 17 

Once I got to the Highway again, I was a little torn. I still have the Northeast corner of the county to explore! But I still had some birds to find along the highway here (and down some side roads) that were a little more pressing. 

A lot of this along Highway 17

This, admittedly, is being written three days after the fact, and there are some things that make it a little challenging to get the chronological stuff right here. East Foster Creek runs along Highway 17, and gave me a little handful of birds. But these birds were interrupted by side trips, first up Leahy Cutoff Road, and then up Hayes Road. So with that in mind, I'll address the Highway 17 birds first. 

Many ducks were seen in the little sloughs, ponds, and flooded fields, and this finally led to the discovery of a Cinnamon Teal (114). I wish I could have gotten a picture, but there are simply points on this highway where there's not even a way to pretend that it's safe to pull over. At another stop, I was able to get a couple Greater Yellowlegs (115), followed by one... then a dozen... Wilson's Snipe (116) flushing from an adjacent field. An American Pipit (117) called, and landed in some mud for me to round out this search. 

I tried for Virginia Rail several times to no avail... but I'm going to find one. :)

Mountain Bluebird - Leahy Cutoff Road

Leahy Cutoff Road

Oh boy. I've been up here before. Many people have. This was The Spot to go get Greater Sage-Grouse in the state, but the lek where they would display in the spring has not had grouse for at least a couple years now. This would have been a gimme about a decade ago. There are still GRSG in the county, but they're a bit scattered, and found through some combination of diligence and happenstance. I still enjoyed some Harriers, Vesper Sparrows, Sage Thrashers, and a nesting Mountain Bluebird. 

Hayes Road Pond

The map tells me that the creek here is Deep Creek, and it gave me a few new birds for the year. There were plenty of ducks, but still no Northern Shovelers! Over the pond, there were a handful of swallows, including Violet-green, Northern Rough-winged (118), and a single Barn Swallow (119). As I was getting ready to leave, two Turkey Vultures (120) flew over the little river valley.

Packwood Memorial Cemetery

Ponderosa Pines - Packwood Cemetery

Hold on... that's a long way from the last stop! I made a decision to grab some mini-mart food in Bridgeport, and to push on to Central Ferry Canyon. I'd been here in deep snow in February, but wanted especially to try to find Packwood Memorial Cemetery, which Matt and I had failed to even locate on that trip. 

What a neat neat stop. The setting is remote, the habitat is beautiful, and it's a place with some history. I found sections that were completely dressed up with recent deliveries of flowers, and other graves with dates going back to early in the last century. One of these hit me hard, "Baby" born April 11, 1914, and dying just over a year later. 

There were so many little connections, and it was something else to think of how many April 11ths had passed in this place since this couple enjoyed a brief year with another person. I've lost a son, and have two kiddos who, if you hadn't gathered from the start of this post, I am rather fond of. 

Totally out of context? But the kids have also been dragging me through a musical journey lately - if you've got kids, for gosh sakes let them do this and find out why the songs have meaning for them - but one song, written about a different kind of loss, from the great poet Ms Taylor Swift, included the lines: 

"There'll be happiness after you. But there was happiness because of you too. Both of these things can be true. There is happiness." These trips are pretty quiet affairs, so there was time to think about those lines in the context of loss, and I enjoyed their simple beauty, especially in this place.

Wind chimes were dappled over one of the trees - the various arrangements of notes somehow not in conflict with each other. I shot my son a text, as he's always enjoyed wind chimes. After a little tour of the cemetery itself, I started to look and listen for some birds. White-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatch (121) were some of the first finds, along with a handful of Hairy Woodpeckers. Western Bluebird (122) calls were heard in the cemetery, and then seen along the road as I finally packed it up and continued up Central Ferry Canyon Road. 

I imagined a White-headed Woodpecker coming to visit these cones

Dyer Hill

Hey! I know that tree!

Can you have a favorite tree in a county? Not like... a favorite kind of tree, but literally a favorite tree? If we're allowing it, I submit this tree right here. You can go back to February to see it in the snow. I had to stop and shoot it then, and I had to shoot it again this day. I may have to make a habit of this.

Matt and I got stopped in our tracks on Dyer Hill back in February, in a road that was not much more than a snow bank dotted with street signs. I had been up here before, but maybe I had just gone up without enough focus, and I had gotten pretty turned around. This was years back, but on this day, I had a general sense of where I was going, and the GPS to confirm my choices as I went. South a little, East a little, Southeast for a little. I knew where I was going, and the roads made it easy driving. 

What the heck was I doing on Dyer Hill? In complete honesty, it was to find a dang pheasant. . . or a partridge. Either one. These are both code 2 birds in the county, they're both found in like... all the places I've been all year, but they've been hiding. April is early to call out a nemesis bird. . . but these were the two contenders for sure. Which one would give in and let me find it? Which one would be stubborn? I will go into no further details, because I know my audience may love birds, and I really do as well, but I'll just say that my frustration led to some culinary thoughts regarding pheasant and partridge. 

The top of the two pictures above shows what most of this landscape looks like. Giant rocks littered randomly around these fields. I know that they are erratics left behind by glaciers more than a few years back, but they are the things of mythology. Had I lived here a good few thousands of years ago, I absolutely would have come up with a story about the great Rock Fight of the Gods. The bottom picture? It's just the sky. My good friend Todd has looked through my blog pictures before, and scoffed at nearly any picture that included too much of the sky for his tastes. "People already know what the sky looks like. You should have cut it off down here." This one's for him. :)

Northern Shrike

It's April, and one bird I wanted was a Loggerhead Shrike. They're more common in sage country, so when I came across this character over a wheat field, I knew I should probably get some photos. The thing is. . . I really don't know that much about birds. This is a secret that has likely been revealed to some as they have read through this blog, but let me now be really clear on this point. Fortunately, I have a pretty good sense of my weak spots, so I got some pictures to help me sort out whether this was a Loggerhead Shrike, or just a Northern Shrike that was delaying the "Northern" thing for a few more weeks.

Among other sites, this one proved to be pretty helpful. The bird here has some barring on the breast, and also has a mask that looks good for Northern Shrike. Looking at the two of them on the afore-linked site, I think I decided that the Northern Shrike looks like it's wearing a good bit of mascara. Too much? I don't make those kinds of judgements. But the Loggerhead looks like it was wearing an equal amount, and then had a good cry, with all of the inconvenient running that ensues. This bird has quite a mask going, but it's under control. Northern Shrike. 

Brewer's Blackbirds: Male (left) and female (right) - Dyer Hill

I did come across a farm with some more blackbirds to pick through. This batch included Brewer's and Red-winged Blackbirds, as well as a single Brown-headed Cowbird (123).

One of the pictures that gets close to showing the beauty of this place. This times a large number.

Down to the Columbia

McNeil Canyon Road

The day was getting late, I'd been up a long time, and had been a lot of places. Even as I've blogged this, I've been wondering, "When is this guy going to get some sleep?" I of course omitted about 5-10 little cat naps along the way, but still, the hotel in Wenatchee was calling me. I came out to Bridgeport Hill Road, and found my way back to 172 - the East-West highway running through the North-center of the county. 

On my way down McNeil Canyon Road, I may have been driving like a birder, and the guy behind me was driving like someone who is frustrated with someone who is driving like a birder, so I pulled off the road. It seemed like a nice enough spot, so I rolled down my window, and heard among other birds, a Mountain Chickadee (124). This is a Code 1 bird, so I'm sure I'll have a chance to enjoy more of them as the year goes along, but surprisingly this (even after the next day or two) was the only one for the year through April. 

From here it was just the usual drive through Orondo to East Wenatchee. I had one occasion to stop for an Osprey, but otherwise was ready to wrap things up for the day. 

Osprey (125)

I rolled into the Cedars Inn - It may have been 6 or 7 on this fair Sunday evening. I knew I should get some work done, but I was getting a little tired. I also realized that I didn't know what time Union Hill Cider Company was closing for the day, and I had some cider to pick up from them. I looked online and found they were not going to be open again until Friday. I left a long rambly voicemail (when am I *not* long and rambly?) to see if there would be a way to pick things up, and got a call back within the next 30 minutes or so. 

The caller, one of the owners, let me know that he could meet me in the morning. I asked how early, and he said he was usually up by 5 or 6 in the morning. Got me thinking about how that might be normal hours for people in a large part of the county. We got set up for the next day, and I set my alarm for a ridiculous hour of the morning, deciding that the work would have to wait for a time when I was not deliriously tired.

I slept easily, immediately, and hard at the end of a lovely day. 

Promises of apples everywhere I went

(Comical editorial note: It just sunk in that my Egret sighting was not on the 11th, but on the 12th! This after I looked at my total at the end of this day, and thinking it was one higher than it should have been. the same story happened, but I'll note when it happened the next day. Is history ever an accurate representation of events? Maybe not, but I tried!)