Snowy Owl

There is a SNOWY OWL l in a field just to the south of Highway 12 between Touchet and Byrnes Road.  It was there all day today.

 

Unfortunately the farmer who owns the field is putting down poison in furrows in the field.  Hopefully the owl will be spooked by the tractor and move to another field.  Look for it closer to Touchet, or along Byrnes Road if you don't find it where it was seen today.   Ginger

Saw-whet owl at Bennington Lake

We saw a northern saw-whet owl at Bennington Lake this morning.  It was in the pine trees on the east side where we have seen them before.  The other notable sighting was a winter wren.  It's been several years since we've seen one at the lake.  Lots of the usual winter birds - juncos, song sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, ruby-crowned kinglets, chickadees, flickers and downy woodpeckers.  Raptors included 1 red-tailed hawk, 2 northern harriers and 1 kestrel. Waterfowl was sparse – a common goldeneye, 3 western grebes, 3 northern shovelers, 2 northern pintails and 3 green-winged teal.  We only saw one Townsend's solitaire today.  We saw a total of 28 species this morning on our sunny, but somewhat chilly walk.  The leaves are mostly off the trees, but it's still a beautiful place to be.  Ginger

Turkey Trot Field Trip Results

We started with wind and sun and ended with wind and rain.  Nevertheless, we saw 235 wild turkeys.  Seventy of those were in Walla Walla County and the remainder were in Columbia County south of Dayton.  We enjoyed watching them walk and fly across the road in front of us.  We noted that several of them were quite small and wondered if they were this year's hatch.  Several landed in the trees and many more gobbled along under the brush.  Other highlights of the trip were 6 great horned owls and 2 northern shrikes.  We commented on the low numbers of birds (we only saw 23 species) and wondered if the weather change had them hunkered down. It was a fun outing and I look forward to going again next year.  Ginger

Bennington Lake Birds

We enjoyed a sunny walk around the lake this morning.  When we arrived there were 6 common mergansers on the water along with canada geese, American wigeons, mallards, western grebes and a belted kingfisher.  Along the shore were 8 killdeer, a great blue heron and a greater yellowlegs.  Juncos were abundant.  There were also black-capped chickadees, ruby-crowned kinglets, Bewick's wrens, song sparrows, white-crowned sparrows and a red-breasted nuthatch.  Several yellow-rumped warblers were enjoying the insects in the cottonwoods on the east side.  Two great horned owls were snoozing in the trees on the east side of the canal.  We saw several Townsend's solitaires, downy woodpeckers and flickers scattered around the lake.  The leaves were still crisp as we walked through them on the trail, adding to the enjoyment of being outside on such a beautiful day.  Ginger