Field Trip

The trip was lead by Paul and Judy Treman and we all want to thank them for showing us some wonderful birds. 

Wild Goose Chase Field Trip - February 14

Wow, did we see the birds!!!  We had close-up views of about 7500 snow geese in a corn field along Hanson Loop Road.  There were also canada geese, greater white-fronted geese and cackling geese in the mob of snow geese so the 22 field trip participants got to study them up close.  On Iverson Road we saw more than 30 great egrets and several great blue herons.  The ponds at McNary NWR were teeming with many varieties of ducks and tundra swans.  We enjoyed the Open House at McNary NWR Headquarters and had a pleasant lunch outside in the warm sunshine.  The frosting on the cake, was getting to see a northern saw-whet owl at Hood Park (thanks MerryLynn for the tip!)  It was a great field trip with a fun bunch of people!

Snowy Owls

There are two snowy owls in the Weston area on York Road.  Many of us saw and photographed them on January 31.

Pelican and Evening Grosbeaks at Bennington Lake

There was a single American white pelican on the lake when we arrived for our Tuesday walk.  Soon it was joined by a ring-billed gull and several canada geese.  The only other birds on the water were three common mergansers, a female common goldeneye and a great blue heron.  The little birds were pretty quiet with the exception of a singing Bewick's wren that was perched on top of a shrub.  We saw numerous dark eyed juncos and white-crowned sparrows, several black capped chickadees, Townsend's solitaires, ruby-crowned kinglets, downy woodpeckers and two great horned owls along the trail.  However, the best surprise was seeing a flock of about 50 evening grosbeaks fly into a pine tree above the parking lot as we were returning to our cars.  The sunshine was a welcome change and although it made the trails pretty mucky, it was nice being outside.

Red-tailed Hawk Bonanza

Today was the Raptor Field Trip, and we saw oodles of raptors despite the fog and rain.  Highlights of the trip were 91 red-tailed hawks (with over 70 in the vicinity of Frog Hollow Road and McDonald Road), 23 American kestrels, 5 northern harriers and 2 rough-legged hawks.  We also saw 2 northern shrikes and 3 great horned owls.  The red-tails came in every color phase, including several rufous morph and dark morph birds.  Our total species count for the day was 27.

Turkey Trot Field Trip

Thirteen people joined Tom Scribner on November 22 for the Annual Turkey Trot.  The day started out bright and sunny and ended up pouring rain.  There were no turkeys found in Walla Walla County, but we able to find 93 of them in  Columbia County, mostly on Wolf Fork Road south of Dayton.  Interestingly, we almost saw more deer than turkeys, the final count for deer was 85.  We saw or heard a total of 27 species including northern shrike, great horned owl, varied thrush and hermit thrush.  It was a fun day despite the afternoon rain.  Thanks to Tom for another successful outing.

Red Phalarope at Bennington Lake

A birder from California found a red phalarope at Bennington lake this morning.  It was still there in the afternoon when several of us were able to get out there to look.  It seems to be spending most of its time on the east side of the canal near the end where it opens up into the lake.  It was actively eating along the mud when we left at 3:00.

 

Other nice birds today  - at McNary NWR Headquarters.  Bonaparte's gulls, Franklin's gulls, Sabine's gull and a flyover of about 500 sandhill cranes.  Many white fronted geese and 4 snow geese at the corner of Hanson Loop Road and Highway 12