Jasper Mountain Road

Joe and Carolyn joined Rodger and I this morning for a trip up Jasper Mountain.  In the deciduous trees we found western wood peewees, yellow warblers, Bullock's orioles and black-headed grosbeaks.  A little further up in the riparian areas we found western tanagers, willow flycatchers, house wrens, and MacGillivray's warblers.  There were six western bluebirds by the boxes and also two pairs of tree swallows.  At the "T" we found Hammond's flycatchers, yellow-rumped warblers, a hairy woodpecker, and a Say's phoebe.  Chipping sparrows and robins were abundant and we also saw a Savannah sparrow.  We heard a hermit thrush singing - a definite sound of summer!  We identified several other birds by their songs but didn't see them. We didn't find any red-naped sapsuckers or black-backed woodpeckers, but hopefully we will the next trip.  It was a beautiful morning and so nice to get up into the woods.  Traffic was pretty heavy with rigs coming down after spending the long weekend in the mountains.

Ginger

Bennington Lake today

We saw an eastern kingbird on the northeast side of the trail just before you cross the creek.  Bullock's orioles can be heard and seen all around the lake in the cottonwoods.  There were several western wood peewees on the west side of the canal and we heard five yellow-breasted chats along the canal.  One was sitting in the top of a tree for great looks.  Western tanagers were moving through.  We saw several bright males and heard many more.  There are a pair of spotted sandpipers now at the south end of the lake.  Yellow warblers, lazuli buntings and house wrens continue to be around in abundance. Along the lower trail north of the parking lot, we saw two MacGillivray's warblers and a Wilson's warbler.  We saw 15 rough-winged swallows today - a very high number.  There were also many cliff swallows and there are  tree swallows around all the boxes.  Very birdy day!     Ginger

Lazuli Bunting invasion

In case you haven't heard - the Walla Walla Valley is full of lazuli buntings!  I have had numerous people let me know that they have large numbers of them in their yards.  If you haven't seen them in your yard yet, go outside and take a closer look - they is probably at least one in the trees or under your feeder eating seeds with the finches and sparrows. 

 

Also, evening grosbeaks have been reported for the past two or three weeks.  Hopefully you have had them in your yard.

 

Finally, there have been two Lewis' woodpecker sightings in the area.  They are moving through, but keep a lookout for them.   Ginger

Bennington Lake

More new arrivals today - western wood peewee, warbling vireo, black-headed grosbeak, McGillivray's warbler, Wilson's warbler and Nashville warbler.  We also saw three flycatcher species - dusky, Hammond's and least. There continue to be many house wrens and yellow warblers....and swallows (rough-winged, violet green, cliff and tree).  Noisy western kingbirds and Bullock's orioles could be heard in several locations and lazuli buntings sang from the treetops. The young northern saw-whet owl is still hiding in the cottonwoods and the two young great horned owls were sitting in a tree along the canal.  Finally, a pair of red-breasted nuthatches may be nesting along the west side trail.  Not the type of habitat where you would normally find nuthatches.  I love spring!  Ginger

 

 

Bennington Lake

It was a busy weekend at the lake.  Jon Lundak found a young northern saw-whet owl in a nest hole along the lake.  Later Mike Denny located a fledgling in a tree near the nest.  These little owls are very hard to discover because they hide so well in the brush.  There were also lazuli buntings, Bullock's orioles, spotted sandpipers, a yellow-breasted chat, and three killdeer chicks with their parents on the trail at the south end.  On the water were ruddy ducks, bufflehead and a pied-billed grebe.  We had a report of a Lewis' woodpecker and the great horned owl chicks are now fledged and sitting in the cottonwoods. There were tons of people enjoying the lake as well, many of them fishing.  Of course there was an osprey fishing too.  Yellow warblers and house wrens can be heard all around the lake.  There are more summer nesters still to arrive, so stay tuned.....   Ginger

Bennington Lake

It was raining this morning, but we walked anyhow.  Once the rain stopped the birds came out so it ended up being a fairly productive morning.  A spotted sandpiper has returned - we usually have two pairs of them that nest at the lake.  Western kingbirds and house wrens were abundant and noisy.  Yellow warblers were singing.  Other warblers seen were orange-crowned and yellow-rumped.  There were three osprey today and a nice variety of waterfowl species including bufflehead, northern shoveler and western grebe.  Swallows were everywhere - mostly cliff and tree.  We did see two pairs of northern rough-winged swallows - one pair along and canal and another pair at the parking lot.  These are their usual nesting sites.  Only one young great horned owl was present today in the parking lot and it was out of the hole on the bank.  A turkey vulture flew over the fields to the east and a sharp-shinned hawk chased a flock of goldfinches in the parking lot.   We're still waiting for the orioles......   Ginger

Bluebird Field Trip

 

May 2 was Tom Scribner's Bluebird Field Trip to check on the boxes south of Pomeroy.  Unfortunately it rained much of the day, but Tom still checked about 40 boxes (while the rest of us watched from inside our vehicles).  We saw 50 mountain bluebirds and 4 western bluebirds.  Six of the nests had eggs in them already and only two boxes had no nesting material in them.  Earlier in the trip near Waitsburg we saw great horned owl chicks and two heron rookeries.  Other notable sightings were a hairy woodpecker, a western kingbird and several vesper sparrows.