Bennington Lake Today

It was a bit breezy, the lake is still frozen, and it started to rain a little before we got around the lake. In spite of all those adverse factors, it was a nice walk and we saw quite a few birds (mostly juncos and sparrows).  We did find four great horned owls which is always nice.  There were no Townsend's solitaires today and only a handful of robins.  Raptors included Cooper's hawk, American kestrel, red-tailed hawk and northern harrier.  The downy woodpeckers were busy working the galls on the rose bushes.  We saw a total of 22 species.  Ginger

WALLA WALLA 2011 CBC RESULTS

Count week is over and the results are in on our Christmas Bird Count.  The spotted sandpiper was a new bird for the count. Steller's jay and varied thrush were missing from the count for the first time.  Total numbers were down from previous years – both number of species (71) and total number of birds(12,029) .  This was probably due to the weather conditions – dense fog for everyone who was below 1100 feet (which was most of us).  A big thank you to Mike and MerryLynn for organizing the count.  Below is the list.  Ginger

 

Canada goose – 1445

Wood duck – 24

American wigeon – 236

Mallard – 581

Green-winged teal – 3

Ring-necked duck – 2

Bufflehead – 2

Common goldeneye – 3

Hooded merganser – 47

Common merganser – 98

Ring-necked pheasant – 42

Ruffed grouse – 2

Wild turkey – 117

California quail – 98

Great blue heron – 13

Northern harrier – 7

Sharp-shinned hawk – 8

Cooper's hawk – 8

Red-tailed hawk – 61

American kestrel – 68

Merlin – 2

American coot – 20

Killdeer – 8

Spotted sandpiper – 1

Wilson's snipe – 2

Rock pigeon – 126

Eurasian collared dove – 120

Mourning dove – 105

Western screech owl – cw

Great horned owl – 16

Anna's hummingbird – 1

Belted kingfisher – 12

Downy woodpecker – 40

Hairy woodpecker – 3

Northern flicker – 225

Northern shrike – 6

Black-billed magpie – 232

American crow – 195

Common raven – 16

Horned lark – 15

Black-capped chickadee – 133

Chestnut-backed chickadee – 3

Red-breasted nuthatch – 4

Brown creeper – 1

Bewick's wren – 40

Pacific wren – 4

American dipper – 2

Golden-crowned kinglet – 30

Ruby-crowned kinglet – 32

Townsend's solitaire – 7

Hermit thrush – 1

American robin – 111

European starling – 3781

American pipit – 1

Bohemian waxwing – 13

Cedar waxwing – 102

Yellow-rumped warbler – 3

Spotted towhee – 5

American tree sparrow – cw

Fox sparrow – 1

Song sparrow – 248

White-crowned sparrow – 490

Dark-eyed junco – 1446

Dark-eyed junco (slate colored) – 3

Western meadowlark – 8

Cassin's finch – cw

House finch – 479

Common redpoll – cw

Pine siskin – 40

American goldfinch – 260

House sparrow – 771

 

 

Tree sparrow and common redpolls

The sun came out, the fog went away, and the path got muddy.  But it was worth it because this morning on our Tuesday morning walk we saw a tree sparrow at Bennington Lake.  It was in the middle of the sunflower patch along with dozens of white-crowned sparrows, juncos, and song sparrows. Standing guard above the patch on a kestrel box was a sharp-shinned hawk.  After the hawk flew away to chase some white-crowned sparrows in the rose bushes, the tree sparrow came back up and sat on top of a weed.  While we were watching the sparrow, a flock of 21 common redpolls flew overhead and landed in the trees nearby.  We saw a total of 25 species for the day.  Ginger

Long-tailed Duck

There is a long-tailed duck hanging out near the old bridge at Wallula Junction.  It can usually be seen by walking out on the bridge, but keep watching because it spends more time under water than it does above.  It was first spotted by a group of birders from Ellensburg on December 11, and has been seen the past two days by local birders.  Also, the snowy owl is still being seen along Gardena Road in the area where it intersects Burlingame Road and Barnes Road (it moves around).  This is most likely the same bird that was seen in November off Highway 12 just west of Touchet.  Ginger

Snowy Owl

There was a snowy owl sighting on December 17 in the area or Gardena Road and Burlingame Road.  That is south of Touchet a few miles.  I'm not sure if it is the same bird that was seen along Highway 12 just west of Touchet, or a new bird.  Ginger