Bennington Lake Swallows

Five of us put on our rain coats and walked around Bennington Lake this morning.  It didn't rain the entire time, but we were all glad we had worn protective gear.  The first bird we saw when we got to the parking lot was a Caspian Tern.  Then we started seeing swallows over the lake.  We counted 27 violet green swallows and 2 tree swallows.  There is still very little water in the lake, but we did see two double-crested cormorants, five mallards and one fly-over canada goose.  A pair of northern harriers were displaying and a great horned owl was calling as we walked down the canal.  We saw two adult owls and heard a young one crying, but didn't find the nest.  We saw 24 species total. 

March Audubon Field Trip

Mike and MerryLynn Denny led the March Field Trip to the west side of the county on March 17 in search of early migrants and wildflowers. The wind was howling but that didn't stop the group from walking around Hood Park where we found many yellow-rumped warblers, an orange-crowned warbler and a pair of black-capped chickadees setting up house in a nest box along the water.  We saw a glaucous gull on the Walla Walla River Delta and set up scopes at Wallula Grain Terminal to get a lesson in how to tell the difference between lesser and greater scaup. The highlight was hiking the rocks in Wallula Gap where we found desert buttercups, shooting stars and prairie stars, lichen and several other plants emerging from winter's cold.  Robins were everywhere, there were around 200 snow-geese and several hundred white-fronted geese on McNary NWR, and three great horned owls on nests.  All in all, it was a great trip.

 

Northern harrier behavior

At Bennington Lake this morning there were a pair of northern harriers.  The male put on quite a show with it displays – going straight up and then swooping down on the female.  But that wasn't enough for this feisty bird.  It also harassed a great horned owl and actually chased it from the far west side of the high trail to the high trail on the east side.  Very interesting behavior and fun to watch.  Spring is definitely in the air!   Ginger 

Northern Goshawk at Bennington Lake

The last bird we saw as we were walking back to the parking lot – an immature northern goshawk.  Unfortunately, only two of us were still on the trail at the time.  Other than the goshawk, the day was pretty typical for a winter walk around the lake.  There was very little water on the lake, and half of it was frozen.  We did see two common mergansers, five mallards and two northern pintails.  Bewick's wrens continued to serenade us with their spring song, and they were joined today by juncos, song sparrows and northern flickers.

 

It's that time of year when anticipation is great and discovery is still to come.  I know it won't be long before the swallows return, and then the other spring birds will be along to make it really seem like spring. Ginger

Waterfowl/Raptor Field Trip

Eighteen of us met at Harper Joy Theater this morning to spend the day looking for birds. The forecast was for rain, but fortunately we had none.  However, there is always a trade-off, and today it was wind, and then smoke.  Trying to hold on to scopes on the Columbia River proved to be a real challenge, but we still managed to find 20 species of waterfowl.  Highlights were several thousand SNOW GEESE, over 300 WHITE-FRONTED GEESE and thousands of CANADA GEESE flying all over McNary NWR.  We only saw four BALD EAGLES along the route, but did find two GREAT HORNED OWLS.  We looked for raptors on the way to the river along Sudbury Road and Dry Creek Road.  There were numerous RED-TAILED HAWKS and AMERICAN KESTRELS, several NORTHERN HARRIERS, a PRAIRIE FALCON and a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK.  A COOPER'S HAWK at McNary Headquarters brought out raptor species count up to six.  We planned to look for more raptors on the return trip to Walla Walla, but encountered farmers in the process of burning their fields.  Needless to say, it didn't make for good birding conditions.  Our species count for the day was 40 – not bad considering the conditions. Ginger

Bennington Lake today

It was much easier birding today than last week – sunshine, balmy temperatures and not much wind.  The common mergansers continued to be the most prevalent bird – 104 of them.  The robins are coming back – we had at least 75 today and they are being reported all around the county.  Today we found the sparrow flock and MerryLynn was able to pick out a tree sparrow in with the many dark-eyed juncos, white-crowned sparrows and song sparrows.  Other birds of note were a Townsend's solitaire, a northern shrike, a merlin, two golden-crowned kinglets and two great horned owls.  We saw a total of 30 species today.  Ginger

 

A Blustery Walk Around Bennington Lake

What would make three birders want to take a walk in 30 mph plus winds?  No, the answer isn't a rare bird – it's "cabin fever".  After a week of icy/snowy weather, we saw the sun and decided to walk regardless of the wind.  The wind was howling in the parking lot and across the dam, but once across we were more protected so it wasn't so bad.  Of course, the birds didn't think it was a very good day to be out in the wind even though the sun was shining.  We only saw one bird in the tree tops – a house finch – and it was holding on for dear life.  We had to work at it, but were able to eek out 22 species.  86 common mergansers dotted the lake and 13 green-winged teal were tucked into a cove on the south side.  Juncos were abundant and five downy woodpeckers were busy on the rose galls.  One great horned owl sat in a willow on the east side of the canal. No, it wasn't the best morning to be bird watching, but it was good to be outside.  Ginger