Bennington Lake today

It was a very "birdy" day today at the lake.  There was a wide variety of waterfowl including ruddy ducks, scaup, ring-necked ducks, redheads, a cinnamon teal and a blue-winged teal.  A black-necked stilt was flying around looking for some mud and two osprey were fishing.  Swallows were abundant - cliff, violet green and tree.  There were also a couple barn swallows and two Vaux's swifts.  Western kingbirds were chattering in all the trees - we saw at least 20.  A Say's phoebe was calling from a snag. We heard a Lazuli bunting and Hammond's flycatchers in the brush plus a few yellow warblers and house wrens.  Calliope hummingbirds were displaying. Ruby-crowned kinglets were singing and one of them was fussing at red-breasted nuthatch.  We saw and heard 52 species.

The biggest treat of the morning was several singing coyotes.  They serenaded us several times as we walked around the lake from up on the east side.  We should have more summer birds by next week so stay tuned..... Ginger

Bennington Lake

Things are picking up at Bennington Lake.  Jon Lundak saw a calliope hummingbird a black-necked stilt and a Nashville warbler there on April 19.  On our weekly walk, April 21, we saw several yellow-rumped warblers in bright breeding plumage, a western kingbird, a greater yellowlegs, two osprey, 12 bufflehead and 4 redheads with the more common waterfowl, and heard a house wren.  Every week now more birds will be returning.  It's an exciting time at the lake.  The water was rushing over the spillway that we affectionately call "Cayuse Falls".  We waded through it and got our feet wet, but it felt good after the hot walk on the east side of the lake.  One of the great horned owl chicks apparently fell out of the nest in the parking lot, but it has crawled into a lower hole and appears to be doing fine.  One of the parents keeps watch over both of the chicks from the cottonwoods nearby.

Ginger

Avocets and Stilts

MerryLynn and I drove over to the west side of the county this morning to look for shorebirds.  There were American avocets at the overlook pond just before Wallula Junction, and also at the Walla Walla River Delta.  There were black-necked stilts at the east end of the millet ponds on Northshore Road.  We also saw a cinnamon teal at the Wallula overlook pond, a long-billed curlew at the Delta along with several Caspian terns and a large flock of dunlin. There were 13 Eurasian wigeons at Tyson ponds.  Finally, there are a pair of osprey building a nest along Highway 12 just before the new wine facility east of Lowden.

Things are picking up!  Ginger

Bennington Lake Turkey Vulture

We had a few different birds this morning on our walk including a turkey vulture that circled the lake and then spiraled up and off to the northeast.  Also, the tree swallows are back. Listed below are the interesting birds seen today.  It only gets better now, so get out there and enjoy the birds!  Ginger

 

Turkey vulture - 1

Osprey - 1

Caspian tern - 2

Double-crested cormorant - 3

Great horned owl - 6 (4 were chicks)

Hairy woodpecker - 1

Tree swallow - 6

Say's phoebe - 1

Spotted towhee - 1

 

Osprey at Bennington Lake

Today on our weekly walk (which was delayed one day because of the rain and wind yesterday) we were very excited to see a beautiful osprey flying over the lake.  This is the first one reported in the area this spring - and a welcome sight for sure.  It was cold and windy so the birds were hunkered down.  We did find an adult northern shrike and two Townsend's solitaires that evidently decided it's too cold to head for their summer homes.  No tree swallows at the lake yet, but they are back in the valley so we expect them soon.    Ginger