Common Loon at Bennington Lake

Today on our walk, we saw a common loon in breeding plumage along the canal.  It was first reported on April 24 by Matt Beatty.  They are a rare visitor to the lake during spring migration.  We also saw four western kingbirds.  The kingbirds were the only new spring arrivals, probably because of the cold, windy weather we are having.  There were several hundred swallows over the lake, mostly violet-green and cliff with a few tree mixed in. The great horned owls in the canal have three chicks. Hopefully next week will be warmer and we will have some new birds!  Ginger

Birds on the Move

It's time to watch your backyard feeders for migrating birds.  We have had a big change in activity in our yard the past week.  Goldfinches are abundant, white-crowned sparrow numbers are way up and we've had seven Cassin's finches and two evening grosbeaks for several days.  A Lincoln's sparrow  came in to feed yesterday.  Take a good look at your sparrows and you may find a white-throated sparrow or a golden-crowned sparrow in with the white-crowns and house sparrows.  And it's time to get your hummingbird feeders up - they will arrive any day!  MerryLynn and I saw American avocets and black-necked stilts at three locations yesterday - the Wallula Junction Overlook, the Walla Walla River Delta and Northshore Millet ponds.  The Delta also has a large number of Caspian terns.  There were cinnamon teals at the millet ponds and at the little pond past the barn owl cuts on Dodd Road.  Here come the birds........it will only get better from now on.  Ginger

Owl chicks and a new bird for Bennington Lake

We found great horned owl chicks in two locations this morning on our walk.  It's always exciting to know the owls have brought off young.

We also saw a pair of Eurasian collared doves in the cottonwoods along the south side of the lake.  They are common in the Walla Walla area now, but this is the first time we have seen them at the lake.  The lake was very high today and it was full of waterfowl - mallards, shovelers, wigeons, green-winged teals, ring-necked ducks, common goldeneyes, buffleheads and coots. Above them were tons of swallows -  tree, cliff and violet green mostly, with a couple northern-rough winged. Three osprey soared high above the lake but we only saw one northern harrier today.  Three Lincoln's sparrows were a pleasant surprise, and yellow-rumped warblers in bright breeding plumage were singing in the trees.  The water was gushing over "Cayuse Falls" again, so three of us walked up to the diversion dam at Rooks Park to avoid getting our feet and legs wet.  We were treated with an American dipper and a pair of common mergansers at the dam.  The water is so high at the lake that there is no mud for shorebirds.  Last week we saw 29 greater yellowlegs on a small strip of mud, but today the only shorebirds were a pair of killdeer fussing at us from the rocks on the dam.  Every week should bring more birds back.  I can hardly wait for the warblers and other summer passerines to return!  Ginger

Palouse Falls Field Trip

Joe Corvino led the trip to see the mighty muddy Palouse River crashing over the cliffs at Palouse Falls State Park.  It was an awesome sight watching the spring runoff roaring down toward the Snake River.  We found a peregrine falcon on the cliff face across from the picnic area, although we didn't see its mate.  There were several white-throated swifts and violet-green swallows swirling around and a steady stream of people coming in to view the falls. Raptors enjoying the thermals along the route included red-tailed hawks, northern harriers, American kestrels, two rough-legged hawks and a Swainson's hawk.  We saw three great horned owls on nests along Highway 12 east of Dayton.  Western meadowlarks were abundant, their beautiful song reminding us that it's spring.  It was a great trip.  Ginger

Big Birds at Bennington

The wind was howling as we walked around Bennington Lake this morning, so the little birds were all hunkered down and hard to find.  In spite of the weather we saw some nice birds.  The OSPREY was there and an adult BALD EAGLE circled overhead.  A pair of NORTHERN HARRIERS glided by and three RED-TAILED HAWKS soared high above the dam.  Along the canal was a WILD TURKEY and a RING-NECKED PHEASANT.  The lake actually had white caps on it, but we did find four MALLARDS and a pair of LESSER SCAUP.  VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS were too numerous to count and there were a few TREE SWALLOWS mixed in.   The sun was out so we put up with the wind and enjoyed our walk.  Ginger

More osprey

There was an osprey standing on the nest just east of Lowden along Highway 12 today.  There was another one checking out the new platform a little further east of the first one.  We saw red-tailed hawks and great horned owls on nests in several locations and eight long-billed curlews east of Wallula.  It's a beautiful 70 degrees out and sunny.  Could spring finally be here!!   Ginger