Swallows

Violet green swallows have been seen along Mill Creek near K-Mart.  Here comes spring!

Water at Bennington Lake!

The lake is being filled and so the canal was roaring and we had to wade through about 4 inches of water to get across.  Okay, spring really is coming now!  We split up during our walk, but several nice species were seen including 45 TUNDRA SWANS, a MEADOWLARK, a FOX SPARROW, a SAY'S PHOEBE, a WESTERN BLUEBIRD and a VARIED THRUSH.  JUNCOS and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS are still around and the SONG SPARROWS and BEWICK'S WRENS were singing - so it was a mix of winter and spring birds today.  Ginger

Western Bluebirds at Bennington Lake

We watched seven WESTERN BLUEBIRDS in the trees on the east side of the trail this morning.  Although bluebirds are a sign of spring, it sure didn't feel like spring on our walk.  The BEWICK'S WRENS also think it's spring – they were singing away like it was 50 degrees and sunny (which is was not).  A few CANADA GEESE, a MALLARD and a lone COOT were on the water and four noisy KILLDEER flew around the shoreline.  GREAT HORNED OWLS are nesting in the parking lot and on the far east side.  All the usual winter birds are still around, but not in the numbers we have seen before.  Spring is sure to come sooner or later, and in the meantime we'll continue to enjoy whatever birds we can find on our weekly walk.  Ginger

Field Trip to McNary Wildlife Natural Area

Paul and Judy Treman led nine of us on a great field trip today. Despite a cold wind, we saw many nice birds including bald eagles, black-crowned night herons, wood ducks, a horned grebe and an assortment of other ducks at the wildlife area.  We stopped at the Walla Walla Grain Terminal on the way home.  There were thousands of ducks there, but windy conditions made it difficult to spend much time looking at them.  However, we were able to get looks at canvasbacks, redheads, scaup, western grebes and of course coots. We saw a total of 41 species.  Ginger

 

 

 

Four Swans and a Singing Northern Shrike

When we first drove up to the parking lot at Bennington Lake this morning, there were four TUNDRA SWANS on the water along with 11 COMMON MERGANSERS and 5 MALLARDS.  On the south end of the lake we were serenaded by the sweet song of a NORTHERN SHRIKE.  Who knew that this bird that has been nicknamed the "butcher bird" because of it's tendency to impale its dinner on a barbed wire fence, would have such a beautiful song!  We also saw five NORTHERN HARRIERS swooping over a wheat field on the east side and ended the day watching a LONG EARED OWL along the trail.  BEWICK'S WRENS and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS were singing, and a pair of AMERICAN KESTRELS posed for us from the top of a tree.  It was breezy, but the sun came out to help us warm up and enjoy the walk.   Ginger

Mill Creek/Rooks Park Field Trip

Nine of us walked up Mill Creek from the Project Office to Rooks Park, to see what birds might be out on this cold, foggy morning.  We weren't disappointed.  There were hooded mergansers and common mergansers on the creek along with canada geese, mallards and American wigeons.  A great blue heron gave us regal poses from his perch on a rock in the middle of the creek, and we even saw a mink catch a fish!

We saw three brown creepers, a varied thrush, ruby-crowned kinglets, a spotted towhee, a belted kingfisher, black-capped chickadees and the usual song sparrows, juncos, white-crowned sparrows and Bewick's wrens.  We saw 25 species on our walk, and added a few more species in route. Ginger

Bennington Lake Today

It was very cold,but sunny – a beautiful morning for a walk around the lake.  Birds were pretty scarce when we first started our walk, but as the sun warmed the air a little, the birds began to appear.  A special treat today was seeing a barn owl.  It flushed as we walked by it and was immediately chased off by a Cooper's hawk.  Other raptors seen were red-tailed hawks, northern harriers and American kestrels. We also saw 2 great horned owls, 3 Townsend's solitaires and 2 northern shrikes.  One of the shrikes was having a "beak to beak" confrontation with a robin in the top of a tree over the trail.  Happy little black-capped chickadees flitted in and out of the trees while Bewick's wrens buzzed at us from the shrubs. There were many dark-eyed juncos and white-crowned sparrows as well as a few song sparrows, ruby-crowned kinglets, house finches and goldfinches. Northern flickers and downy woodpeckers were busy working the trees and robins were scattered throughout the area.  Ten canada geese flew over, but flew off again when they discovered the lake was frozen.  MerryLynn watched about 50 Bohemian waxwings fly over her car as she left the parking lot. Twenty-two deer and a singing coyote put the topping on a another great morning at the lake.  Ginger