Waterfowl/Raptor Field Trip

Eighteen of us met at Harper Joy Theater this morning to spend the day looking for birds. The forecast was for rain, but fortunately we had none.  However, there is always a trade-off, and today it was wind, and then smoke.  Trying to hold on to scopes on the Columbia River proved to be a real challenge, but we still managed to find 20 species of waterfowl.  Highlights were several thousand SNOW GEESE, over 300 WHITE-FRONTED GEESE and thousands of CANADA GEESE flying all over McNary NWR.  We only saw four BALD EAGLES along the route, but did find two GREAT HORNED OWLS.  We looked for raptors on the way to the river along Sudbury Road and Dry Creek Road.  There were numerous RED-TAILED HAWKS and AMERICAN KESTRELS, several NORTHERN HARRIERS, a PRAIRIE FALCON and a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK.  A COOPER'S HAWK at McNary Headquarters brought out raptor species count up to six.  We planned to look for more raptors on the return trip to Walla Walla, but encountered farmers in the process of burning their fields.  Needless to say, it didn't make for good birding conditions.  Our species count for the day was 40 – not bad considering the conditions. Ginger

Bennington Lake today

It was much easier birding today than last week – sunshine, balmy temperatures and not much wind.  The common mergansers continued to be the most prevalent bird – 104 of them.  The robins are coming back – we had at least 75 today and they are being reported all around the county.  Today we found the sparrow flock and MerryLynn was able to pick out a tree sparrow in with the many dark-eyed juncos, white-crowned sparrows and song sparrows.  Other birds of note were a Townsend's solitaire, a northern shrike, a merlin, two golden-crowned kinglets and two great horned owls.  We saw a total of 30 species today.  Ginger

 

A Blustery Walk Around Bennington Lake

What would make three birders want to take a walk in 30 mph plus winds?  No, the answer isn't a rare bird – it's "cabin fever".  After a week of icy/snowy weather, we saw the sun and decided to walk regardless of the wind.  The wind was howling in the parking lot and across the dam, but once across we were more protected so it wasn't so bad.  Of course, the birds didn't think it was a very good day to be out in the wind even though the sun was shining.  We only saw one bird in the tree tops – a house finch – and it was holding on for dear life.  We had to work at it, but were able to eek out 22 species.  86 common mergansers dotted the lake and 13 green-winged teal were tucked into a cove on the south side.  Juncos were abundant and five downy woodpeckers were busy on the rose galls.  One great horned owl sat in a willow on the east side of the canal. No, it wasn't the best morning to be bird watching, but it was good to be outside.  Ginger

Redpolls in Nine Mile Canyon

Mike and MerryLynn found a flock of about 250 common redpolls along Nine Mile Canyon on January 15.  They spent several hours studying them and finally found a hoary redpoll in the flock.  This is a new species for Walla Walla county – very exciting!  Ginger

Bennington Lake today

Is it spring?  We were all dressed for cold weather, and it was a beautiful day – sunny and warm (although pretty muddy).  We saw some good birds on our walk this morning including 4 tree sparrows, a bald eagle, a golden-crowned sparrow, 3 Townsend's solitaires, a great horned owl a northern shrike and a Wilson's snipe.  Total number of species was 27.  Ginger

Bennington Lake Today

It was a bit breezy, the lake is still frozen, and it started to rain a little before we got around the lake. In spite of all those adverse factors, it was a nice walk and we saw quite a few birds (mostly juncos and sparrows).  We did find four great horned owls which is always nice.  There were no Townsend's solitaires today and only a handful of robins.  Raptors included Cooper's hawk, American kestrel, red-tailed hawk and northern harrier.  The downy woodpeckers were busy working the galls on the rose bushes.  We saw a total of 22 species.  Ginger

WALLA WALLA 2011 CBC RESULTS

Count week is over and the results are in on our Christmas Bird Count.  The spotted sandpiper was a new bird for the count. Steller's jay and varied thrush were missing from the count for the first time.  Total numbers were down from previous years – both number of species (71) and total number of birds(12,029) .  This was probably due to the weather conditions – dense fog for everyone who was below 1100 feet (which was most of us).  A big thank you to Mike and MerryLynn for organizing the count.  Below is the list.  Ginger

 

Canada goose – 1445

Wood duck – 24

American wigeon – 236

Mallard – 581

Green-winged teal – 3

Ring-necked duck – 2

Bufflehead – 2

Common goldeneye – 3

Hooded merganser – 47

Common merganser – 98

Ring-necked pheasant – 42

Ruffed grouse – 2

Wild turkey – 117

California quail – 98

Great blue heron – 13

Northern harrier – 7

Sharp-shinned hawk – 8

Cooper's hawk – 8

Red-tailed hawk – 61

American kestrel – 68

Merlin – 2

American coot – 20

Killdeer – 8

Spotted sandpiper – 1

Wilson's snipe – 2

Rock pigeon – 126

Eurasian collared dove – 120

Mourning dove – 105

Western screech owl – cw

Great horned owl – 16

Anna's hummingbird – 1

Belted kingfisher – 12

Downy woodpecker – 40

Hairy woodpecker – 3

Northern flicker – 225

Northern shrike – 6

Black-billed magpie – 232

American crow – 195

Common raven – 16

Horned lark – 15

Black-capped chickadee – 133

Chestnut-backed chickadee – 3

Red-breasted nuthatch – 4

Brown creeper – 1

Bewick's wren – 40

Pacific wren – 4

American dipper – 2

Golden-crowned kinglet – 30

Ruby-crowned kinglet – 32

Townsend's solitaire – 7

Hermit thrush – 1

American robin – 111

European starling – 3781

American pipit – 1

Bohemian waxwing – 13

Cedar waxwing – 102

Yellow-rumped warbler – 3

Spotted towhee – 5

American tree sparrow – cw

Fox sparrow – 1

Song sparrow – 248

White-crowned sparrow – 490

Dark-eyed junco – 1446

Dark-eyed junco (slate colored) – 3

Western meadowlark – 8

Cassin's finch – cw

House finch – 479

Common redpoll – cw

Pine siskin – 40

American goldfinch – 260

House sparrow – 771