Fort Walla Walla Natural Area Birds

This morning 8/28 my mom and I walked around the natural area and found lots of birds. The Yellow-breasted Chats are still singing, Gray Catbirds, Black-headed Grosbeaks and Western Tanagers are feasting on the chokecherries, Western Wood-Pewees are calling their plaintive call.

Many migrants are stopping there - Yellow, Townsend's, MacGillivray's, Wilson's and Nashville Warblers were all found along with good numbers of Warbling Vireo's. The Bewick's Wrens are again very vocal as are the Swainson's Hawk family. Enjoy these summer visitors before they all head south!MerryLynn

 

 

 

The Raptors Are Gathering

On Friday August 22 Deanna, Rodger, Ginger and I went out west looking for Raptors. We went out Frog Hollow to MacDonald and then south on MacDonald. The farmers were harvesting the alfalfa seed in the fields near the Waterbrook Winery site and the raptors were everywhere. You could count 24 at one time just scanning around. If you looked up in the sky there were many, many more. We concluded that you could almost pick any number for the quantity of raptors we saw and that number would probably be low.

Lots of Swainson's Hawks, many dark morphs and lots of juveniles. Many, many red-tail hawks sitting on the ground, on powepoles, on bee huts, just about everywhere. We even saw one balancing on a powerline.

We then continued west to Brynes Road where we found more raptors though not nearly the concentrations as on MacDonald.

Great birding and fascinating to see so many raptors and we were only out about 2 1/2 hours. Fun time.

Bennington Lake

Nesting time is drawing to a close at the lake.  Most of the summer migrants have raised their young and the fledglings are now very visible - especially yellow warblers and house wrens.  The swallows are starting to leave for their trip south after another very successful year.  The cliff swallows have left and the bank swallows are mostly gone.  A few tree swallows remain, and the barn swallows have started coming to the lake to feed.  Vaux's swift numbers are growing and should continue at least through August.

The Corp planted sunflowers in two places on the east side of the lake and the finches have already found them. August is when we start watching for migrants that don't nest at the lake to pass through on their way south - warblers, flycatchers, and shorebirds (we saw a greater yellowlegs today).  There's always something new to discover at Bennington Lake.  Mornings and evenings are the best time to walk the trail in the summer.  Birds are more active AND it isn't so hot! 

 

Bennington Lake today

The biggest surprise of the morning walk was a family of red-naped sapsuckers at the south end of the lake (one young and two adults).  There were several hundred swallows (mostly cliff and bank) over the lake.  Most of the tree swallow families were along the canal along with at least one family of rough-winged swallows.  We saw young lazuli buntings and black-headed grosbeaks along the canal and the yellow breasted chats were very vocal and visible today.  One Caspian tern was over the lake all morning, and an osprey made a brief appearance.  We saw a total of 46 species - another good morning of birding.

Ginger

Sandpipers and young birds

On our Bennington Lake walk this morning, we were surprised to find four WESTERN SANDPIPERS and one LEAST SANDPIPER along the base of the dam. Also, on the water were 17 NORTHERN SHOVELERS.  The summer birds have started to bring off young.  We saw seven young HOUSE WRENS and two young BULLOCK'S ORIOLES. Many of the others are feeding young, so it won't be long before the lake will be popping with young LAZULI BUNTINGS, WESTERN WOOD PEEWEES, YELLOW WARBLERS, YELLOW BREASTED CHATS, GRAY CATBIRDS, SPOTTED SANDPIPERS and CEDAR WAXWINGS. There were over 100 BANK SWALLOWS, the usual TREE, CLIFF and ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS, as well as several VAUX'S SWIFTS. I encourage you to take an early morning walk around the lake - the birding is great!  Ginger

Bennington Lake Highlights

We found some unexpected birds on our walk around Bennington Lake this morning.  Three black-necked stilts were standing on the edge of the water just below the parking lot; a red-eyed vireo was singing in a cottonwood on the south end of the lake, and a turkey vulture soared over as we were walking along the west side of the trail. yellow-breasted chats and gray catbirds were along the west side of the trail, and Bullocks orioles, black-headed grosbeaks, peewees and yellow warblers were abundant all around the lake. Today we saw and/or heard 44 species.

Anyone is welcome to join us on our weekly survey of the birds at the lake.  This summer our normal schedule will be Tuesdays at 7:00 a.m.  It usually takes us 3-4 hours to complete the walk. If the time or day changes I will post the change on the website.

Ginger

Mountain Birding Field Trip

Twenty eager birders joined Mike and MerryLynn Denny for a full day of birding in the Blue Mountains on Saturday, June 14. The areas covered were Lewis Peak Road, North Fork Coppei Creek Road and Jasper Mountain Road.  The weather was warm and sunny after a long winter and a late snow fall last week. Highlights of the trip were:

 

Green-tailed towhee            Northern goshawk

Indigo bunting                    Swainson's thrush

Least flycatcher                 Red-naped sapsucker

Lark sparrow                     Lewis' woodpecker

Ruffed grouse                   Pygmy nuthatch

Townsend's warbler           Chestnut-backed chickadee

McGillivray's warbler          Western bluebird

 

We found a large patch of lady slippers, a calypso orchid and many more beautiful wildflowers along the roadside. White-tailed deer, a herd of 37 elk and spectacular scenery all added to the enjoyment of another wonderful visit to our beloved Blue Mountains. 

 

This was the last field trip of the year.  I will be posting fall trips sometime in August so be sure to check the website. A big thank you goes out to all of you who led trips this year. You made it possible for all of us to enjoy another fun year of birding.

 

Ginger