Tree Swallows at Bennington Lake

Our Tuesday walk was rained out, so we walked this morning instead.  The "Surprise River" has returned and the concrete canal at "Cayuse Falls" had a little too much water to cross.  We went up to Rooks Park and crossed at the diversion dam.  There were several tree swallows flying around the nest box at the south end of the lake.  Unfortunately, there are only two of the boxes still standing so the swallows are competing for them.  Two more tree swallows were near the other nest box in the canal.  We watched a beaver swimming around the edge of the lake.  It looked like it was moving small tree branches that were floating in the water as the rising water level.  It was pretty quiet other than the swallows.  We did see one northern shrike and a Townsend's solitaire (two of the winter birds that will be leaving very soon).  A ruby crowned kinglet was singing it's melodic song along the trail, and the song sparrows and Bewick's wrens were happily singing their songs.  We only saw one great horned owl today.  It started out chilly, but ended up warm and sunny by the time we finished our walk.

Signs of Spring at Bennington Lake

We watched northern harriers displaying and calling this morning as we walked the trail at the lake. Spiraling high in the air and then diving – first the male and then the female.  How pretty to watch. Then we watched a singing northern shrike in the treetops.  Such a pretty song that we only hear in the spring.  One great horned owl was on the east side of the lake and another was on the north side of the lake, so it looks like we may have two nesting pairs again this year.  Bewick's wrens were singing and checking out nesting sites.  A clever person (or persons) created some very interesting rock formations at Cayuse Falls where the diversion water flows over the rocks.  The willows are beginning to turn colors and the honeysuckle is getting its leaves. A great place to visit on this beautiful day.

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.