The Mud Flats at Bennington Lake

The water level is very low now at Bennington Lake so there is a very big area of exposed mud.  This morning it was full of shorebirds.  We saw 6 pectoral sandpipers, 6 long-billed dowitchers, 2 greater yellowlegs and 9 killdeer.  There were also two great blue herons, a great egret and a white pelican that could be sick because it we watched it get within two feet of a couple fishermen on the bank.  On the water there were 49 canada geese, 5 American wigeons, a ruddy duck and a western grebe.  A few migrating passerines were still around.  Two orange-crowned warblers, a Wilson's warbler, several yellow-rumped warblers and about 20 American pipits.  There were black-capped chickadees, house finches, white-crowned sparrows, juncos and song sparrows along the trail, 4 downy woodpeckers and several northern flickers.  Because of the low water levels, there could be more shorebirds coming in during the next few weeks.  They are close enough to see from the parking lot with binoculars, although a scope really allows you to get a closer look.   Ginger

Hawk Watch Field Trip Results

Thirteen Blue Mountain Audubon members, 4 Pendleton Bird Club members and a couple from Lower Columbia Audubon in the Tri-Cities spent the morning on Bald Mountain searching for migrating hawks.  It was the first time we have tried a hawk watch, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results - we saw 39 raptors in less than four hours.  There were also numerous red-crossbills, yellow-rumped warblers, pine siskins, robins, Steller's jays, a few mountain chickadees and an assortment of other mountain birds.  Here is the breakdown of the raptors seen:

    American kestrel - 3

    Sharp-shinned hawk - 4

    Cooper's hawk - 8

    Accipiter species - 1

    Red-tailed hawk - 12

    Buteo species - 4

    Turkey vulture - 8

Thanks to all of those folks with good eyes who could identify the little black specks in the sky!     Ginger

Bennington Lake - September 8

 

A study of skill and luck.  There were numerous migrants on our Tuesday morning walk, but they weren't easy to see.  All of you who know MerryLynn Denny know that she is an excellent birder, and that she birds by ear.  Two examples from our walk:  #1 Carolyn Corvino and I were busy watching four flickers harassing a great horned owl.  MerryLynn was looking and listening for migrants.  She found a large feeding flock of warblers - yellow, yellow-rumped, orange-crowned, Wilson's and MacGillivray's and watched them for several minutes.  She found us and told us about the flock so we hurried over — only to find all the birds gone! #2 Driving out of the parking lot MerryLynn heard a rock wren.  Carolyn and I again hurried to the spot, and once again the bird was gone.  Skill on MerryLynn's part but also luck at being in the right place at the right time.  It takes both to find birds—I had neither that morning!  We did see some shorebirds in the mud along the canal—2 greater yellowlegs, a semi-palmated plover, 2 western and 2 least sandpipers, 2 spotted sandpipers and several killdeer.  Other nice birds seen were a black-crowned night heron, 2 ruddy ducks and a white pelican.   Ginger