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Saturday, May 3rd, 2003

Columbia Gorge

Wilson Cady led a trip to the Columbia Gorge. Fourteen of us birded the Columbia Gorge on a cold and blustery Saturday, May 3rd. The temperatures never climbed above the mid-50's and the winds were in excess of twenty five miles per hour. We only encountered a few neotropical migrants and they were mostly all seen in the wind-sheltered canyon at the Catherine Creek Wildflower Preserve east of Bingen. Here we found two Western Kingbirds, a Warbling Vireo, one Townsend's Warbler, and a few Yellow-rumped Warblers. There was a Prairie Falcon and a Black-chinned Hummingbird that we located here. The early wildflowers were mostly past their prime but with Bicolored Cluster Lily, Bitter Root and Barrett's Penstemon putting on a nice display.

On the way up Old Highway 8 we found Western Bluebirds and one car load of birders had a fly over of Lewis' Woodpeckers. We saw Chipping Sparrows at the Balch/Lyle Cemetery heard Lesser Goldfinches calling but did not see them there. Our lunch break was along Balch Pond where we had good views of several Lesser Goldfinches along with the resident Western Pond Turtles. Although this is a good spot for Ash-throated Flycatchers none were heard giving their distinctive "prrrt" call. Back down on Old Highway 8 we spent about forty five minutes standing in front of our spotting scopes staring at the Acorn Woodpecker's granary tree in a vain attempt to add this bird to the day's list.

We drove up the Klickitat River to the town of Klickitat where the feeders in front of the homes on the 600 block of Main Street once again produced all four species of hummingbirds normally found in Washington. Another Lewis' Woodpecker flew over the group while we were standing in front of a gas station taking a break These lovely birds have been hard to find in the Gorge this spring. At the Tidyman Road Ponds in Dallesport we found Cinnamon Teal and our only shorebirds other than Killdeer, Least Sandpiper and Wilson's Snipe. Our next stop was Spearfish Park which produced only a pair of Bufflehead as additions to the list. Maryhill Museum was closing its gate when we arrived so we parked outside and walked the grounds in the howling wind. The only bird of note we could find was a Hammond's Flycatcher staying low in the now manicured shrubbery.

The total count of species for the outing was seventy seven and the best birds were two which we did not see on Saturday. Kathy and John Ehrenberg had spent the previous evening with some friends in Underwood which is in Skamania County. There they saw two Blue Jays coming to a feeder along with the normal Scrub Jays and Steller's Jays. Part of the group spent some time there on our way back down the Gorge but did not see the birds. My wife and I did go back up the next afternoon and failed again to see the jays but I did see my first Prairie Falcon for Skamania County during the search.

Wilson Cady