Bennington Lake today

 

Birding started out slow for the Bennington Lake Tuesday walkers today, but picked up after the rain quit and the birds came out.  We watched a Cooper's hawk harassing a long-eared owl, got great looks at a pair of great horned owls, and enjoyed several black-capped chickadees, downy woodpeckers, ruby-crowned kinglets and a Bewick's wren all pecking at the galls on the rose bushes.  Male common mergansers dotted the lake with their black and white plumage, while the females swan alongside looking rather regal with their deep rusty crested heads. A flock of goldfinches flew into a tree along the canal and we were surprised at how bright yellow they were.  Some even had their black foreheads.  Could spring really be coming?  It was a little muddy in spots but all-in-all it was a good walk.    Ginger 

Waterfowl, Gulls and Eagles Field Trip

Thirteen of us joined Mike and MerryLynn for a great day of birding on the west side of the county on January 8.  It was cold and sunny, but there was a stiff wind along the Columbia and Snake Rivers.  Highlights were a FERRUGINOUS HAWK on Byrnes Road, a flock of SNOW GEESE flying high above McNary NWR, a close-up fly by of a TUNDRA SWAN at McNary NWR Headquarters, several BALD EAGLES sitting on the ice along the Columbia River and a bright white ball in the sky at Ice Harbor Dam that we learned later (after Chris Howard did some research on the internet) was VENUS.  We even got to do a little "four wheeling" in the mud at the Wallula Grain Terminal! We saw a total of 24 species of waterfowl and five species of gulls.  Our total species count for the day was 61.  Ginger