Columbia Gorge - June 15-17, 2001

Those of us who left western Washington on Friday morning were greeted by beautiful sunny skies upon our arrival in the Gorge. It certainly lifted people’s spirits after the grayness of the “wet’ side. A short field trip to Dalles Mountain officially started the conference. Later in the evening, John Davis delivered a superb evening presentation on the natural history of the Columbia Gorge. This overview provided a nice framework as field trips forayed into various areas shown in the slides and described in the talk.

Saturday dawned sunny and bright - there’s always a bit of a breeze in the Gorge - and five groups embarked on field trips to areas all throughout the Washington side of the river. The unabridged versions of the trip lists follows this article. The conference list is very impressive. Special thanks to Wilson Cady for organizing the leaders and making the trips a reality.

After the trips returned, conference attendees had a chance to socialize and share stories, as well as buy books from Flora & Fauna’s display table. Field trip accounts were shared just prior to the evening’s keynote speaker, Catherine Flick.

Cathy’s lecture on Nighthawks: Living with Dive-bombers was delightful!. The presentation was truly multimedia - from etymology to visual images to sound recordings to fecal coils - there was something for everyone. Cathy’s knowledge of these birds, their behaviors and life history, was very informative and enlightening.

Sunday was a little breezier than the previous days, but the field trips headed off in search of elusive or restricted-range species and the trip lists reflect what they found. Take a moment to look over the lists and note what was and what wasn’t seen. Particularly comparing similar trips between two different days. The field trip leaders all did a terrific job. Thanks to all of you.

The conference evaluations were generally very favorable. A couple of the major concerns were the cost of lodging being too high and various comments regarding the food. The conference committee tries to anticipate the overall meeting experience. Sometimes it works well and sometimes it doesn’t. All comments and suggestions are welcome and the committee will do its best to organize enjoyable annual conferences for the membership. Thanks for your continued attendance and participation in WOS.

Those people who drove on the conference field trips are entitled to monetary compensation for their efforts. We have identified most of the drivers. If you drove on one or more of the field trips and haven’t been reimbursed, contact the WOS treasurer, Rachel Lawson.

Two references for this area are: The Birder’s Guide to Oregon by Joseph E. Evanovich, Jr. and A Guide to Bird Finding in Washington by Terence R. Wahl and Dennis R. Paulson.

SPEAKERS

John Davis - “Natural History of the Columbia Gorge”

John has lived and worked in the Columbia River Gorge area for about 20 years and has a keen interest in the natural history of the Gorge. He’s currently employed as a biologist for the US Fish & Wildlife Service. When he’s not working he spends a lot of his time exploring the Gorge trying to understand and learn about all aspects of this unique area, including the geology, weather, birds, and plants and animals from large to tiny.

Catherine J. Flick - "Common Nighthawks: Living with Dive-Bombers"

Cathy has worked as a wildlife biologist for the Forest Service on the Mt. Adams Ranger District, Gifford Pinchot National Forest since 1993, working on watershed analyses and restoration activities. She prepares biological evaluations for Forest Service activities which affect endangered, threatened State sensitive species and is the site coordinator for a Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) station for land birds in a Columbia River riparian hardwood community. Other bird-related projects include public educational events, Wind River Canopy Crane Facility observing the vertical occurrence of songbirds in an old-growth forest, Northwest Ecological Research Institute related to purple martin banding along the Columbia River; assisting with a 13-year eastside bluebird project; leading a study of common nighthawk nesting and roosting behaviors, and co-leading a pilot study in comparing bird abundance and productivity between native rangelands and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands.

FIELD TRIPS

Dalles Mountain Road On Friday, June 15th, Wilson Cady led a short trip to the top of the Dalles Mountain in Klickitat County. This was the one low wind day of the conference and even though there were only two hours in which to bird it was an enjoyable outing.

One End To The Other - Wilson Cady & Carol Watrous. The Saturday, June 16th, field trip started at the western end of Skamania County and worked it's way along Highway 14 to Maryhill State Park in Klickitat County. We found all of our target species except the Acorn Woodpecker and picked up a couple of surprises too. Only a gentle breeze was blowing when we started at Cape Horn under cloudy sky but by the time we reached Klickitat County it was difficult to hold your binoculars steady and using a scope meant you had to hold the tripod to keep it from blowing over.

Potato Hill - Andy Stepniewski. Saturday, June 16th, field trip to Meadows RV Park (1.6 miles west of Trout Lake on SR-141, then 0.9 miles north to the RV park), then north to Takkakah Lake on the northwest shoulder of Mt. Adams, and finally the Potato Hill area on the western boundary of the Yakama Indian Reservation. A significant number of forest songbirds were "heard only". This May-July dependence on songs and calls was especially driven home to me as a leader, who dearly wished more of these birds would expose themselves to our binos. Without playback tapes, one simply does not see many species readily. We did not use tapes, save for the Hermit Warbler.

Klickitat Watershed - Stuart Johnston and Bob Hansen.  Saturday, our birding adventure started on the rim of the Columbia Gorge, overlooking a mature oak woodland. Subsequent stops included Balch Lake, riparian areas along the Klickitat River and spectacular view of the Klickitat Canyon and the Columbia Hills. We were successful with all target species including Acorn and Lewis’ Woodpeckers, Lesser Goldfinch, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Nashville Warbler, Bullock’s Oriole, Western Kingbird, and Calliope Hummingbird.

Rock Creek Canyon - Mike Denny and Kraig Kemper, Saturday and Sunday.  Rock Creek is an area of ornithological and botanical interest located east of Goldendale, and sustains a riparian zone with dry slopes rising abruptly on either side. The canyon slopes are dry and grassy, broken up by areas of sage, ponderosa pine and white oak woodland and a few junipers. Along the creek white alder, willow and cottonwoods join the oak. There are extensive thickets of sumac and other common dry-region shrubs, as well as many introduced species of plants: apple, pear and Black Walnut are common.

Trout Lake/Conboy Refuge - Wilson Cady and Carol Watrous. Our trip on Sunday June 17 was to the Elk Meadows RV Park at Trout Lake then to the Conboy Refuge and back down the Klickitat River to Highway 14. It was tough to pull ourselves away from Elk Meadows where we kept finding birds and had great conditions. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the groups that I birded with and think that the use of FRS radios to keep in touch between the vehicles was a great asset. Our most exciting sighting was when a small dog running loose at the Conboy Refuge flushed a family of Wild Turkeys. Several of the young poults were perching in scope view in a pine tree when a female Cooper's Hawk made an attempt at one. She missed and was sitting in a nearby tree until one of the young turkeys made a mistake and jumped to the ground where it was quickly snatched up by the hawk.

Columbia Hills to Satus Pass - Andy Stepniewski Sunday, June 17th, I led a field trip originating in The Dalles that went up over the Columbia Hills on Dalles Mtn Rd, down into the Klickitat Valley to Goldendale, to Brooks Memorial State Park and, finally, Satus Pass. We detoured a bit on the Dalles Mountain Road into the Columbia Hills Natural Area, a substantial DNR site on the crest of the Columbia Hills. Brooks Memorial State Park south of Satus Pass held the most species diversity, with a nice assortment of riparian and forest species. We spent considerable time and effort clambering the steep, brush-grown sidehills at Satus Pass at the site where Green-tailed Towhee was seen 3 years ago, without conclusive results. A variety of habitats were covered: Garry Oak groves, weedy (south-facing) and native (north-facing) grasslands, riparian, rocky wildflower-dappled lithosols on ridge tops, and Ponderosa Pine and mixed-conifer forests.

Eastern Klickitat County - Stuart Johnston and Bob Hansen, Sunday.  We explored the drier side of Klickitat County for Sage Sparrow, Sage Thrasher, Brewer's Sparrow, and other sagebrush/ shrub- steppe obligates. This is a very sparsely populated area which contributes to a sense of being on a being in a rugged, remote part of the world.