A Beautiful Morning At Bennington Lake

The Tuesday Walkers had a lovely stroll around the lake this morning. The trees are beginning to leaf out, the butterflies are returning, and of course the birds are getting more active.  There were tree swallows flying around the south end of the lake, Bewick's wrens and song sparrows singing everywhere, and the osprey was cruising the lake.  There were a large number of ducks on the water – northern shovelers, green-winged teal, bufflehead and mallards.  There was a yellow-rumped warbler in bright breeding plumage, a singing ruby-crowned kinglet and a early chipping sparrow.  MerryLynn spotted a Swainson's hawk far in the distance and a pair of northern harriers were cavorting overhead.  Several killdeer made a huge fuss as we crossed the dam – no doubt we were too close to a nest.  Many other people were enjoying the lake and trails this morning – fishermen, horseback riders, boaters, bicycle riders and kayakers.  Everyone was out on a beautiful day enjoying a place that is a real jewel so close to town.  Ginger

 

(I also had reports of Swainson's hawks south of Lowden this morning, so they definitely have returned).

The Osprey is Back!

This morning the Tuesday walkers were greeted by the osprey as we started out on our walk.  The Corp put fish in the lake a couple days ago, and like clockwork the osprey seems to know and it returns.  The lake was teaming with violet-green swallows plus a few cliff and tree swallows, all skimming across the water getting a new hatch of some tasty insect.  There was a breeding plumage double-crested cormorant on a snag.  Now we know why they are called "double-crested"  That plumage is only apparent when they are breeding.  A western meadowlark was chirping from a tree high up on the east side and there were still a few Townsend's solitaires around.  Every week will bring more birds in now.  The next couple months will be very exciting on our walks as the summer birds return.  Hope you will all get out there and enjoy their arrival.  Ginger 

Waterfowl Field Trip

George Jameson led a Blue Mountain Audubon field trip to the west side of the county to see what ducks and geese we could find.  Highlights included thousands of snow geese – in the fields eating, flying overhead, calling.... Such a wonderful sight!  There were also thousands of canada geese and several hundred cackling geese and white-fronted geese. The geese were seen along Hanson Loop Road, Humorist Road, and at McNary NWR Headquarters.  Also at Headquarters were over 20 tundra swans, a nice variety of ducks including redheads, canvasbacks and ring-necked ducks. We saw more ducks at Two Rivers HMU. A special treat was a great egret sitting by the side of Humorist Road just past the intersection with Highway 12.  Interesting though, when we returned through the same area an hour or so later there were no geese in the fields and no egret.Our timing was good!  There were several bald eagles scattered  along the Columbia River.  We came home via the back roads south of Touchet and Lowden looking for raptors, but found very few.  We did see several great horned owls.

A Slow Day at Bennington Lake

There were 23 tundra swans flying away from Bennington Lake as MerryLynn arrived for our Tuesday walk on February 18.  Even though the lake was open, there were only a few mallards on the water.  It was very quiet walking the trails.  We did see 2 great horned owls and heard a third one.  Near the parking lot we came across a small flock of black-capped chickadees that included a golden-crowned kinglet.  The wind didn't pick up until we were back in the parking lot and it didn't rain, so all in all it was a good walk. We saw or heard a total of 20 species. Ginger

 

 

Backyard Feeders Field Trip

Fifteen people braved the cold, damp morning to look at different types of backyard feeding habitats.  We saw everything from small yard feeding stations to a ten acre place that included two creeks, extensive habitat plantings and yard feeders.  We also visited South Wilbur ponds and were lucky to see over 80 wood ducks on the water.  Some of the other birds seen were sharp-shinned hawks, a great blue heron, juncos, black-capped chickadees, mallards, goldfinches and song sparrows.

Bennington Lake today

This is the slow time of the year at the lake, but the Tuesday walkers were able to find 4 great horned owls, a barn owl, 2 Cooper's hawks, a sharp-shinned hawk, a northern shrike and numerous small wintering passerines.  The lake is free of ice once again, but there was little on it – 6 green-winged teal, 2 mallards, 2 killdeer, a ring-billed gull and a great blue heron.  A beautiful morning for a walk.

Walla Walla Christmas Bird Count

On Saturday, December 14, the 40th annual Walla Walla CBC was held under overcast skies with temperatures in the low 40's.  Thirty-four observers saw a total of 77 species with an additional 2 species added during count week.  We had the highest ever counts this year for gray partridge (32), Eurasian collared dove (195), hairy woodpecker (14), red-shafted flicker (283), raven (154), cedar waxwing (621) and fox sparrow (4).  Hats off to MerryLynn Denny who spent untold hours organizing the count.  We all appreciate her hard work and commitment to making this year's count a success.