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.

Field Trip

Sixteen  people joined Tom Scribner for the 11th annual Turkey Trot today.  My records show 69 to be the lowest number of wild turkeys seen (in 2008). The record high was 365 in 2007. This year we saw 73. The average number seen is around 230.  Although we didn't see that many turkeys, we did see high numbers of California quail.  We found one long-eared owl and several great horned owls as well as many red-tailed hawks, a bald eagle, varied thrushes, Townsend's solitaires, and a Bohemian waxwing. Total bird species seen was 35. Deer were everywhere and we saw a large herd of elk.  It was a cold but sunny day, and a lot of fun to be out birding.

 

Bennington Lake In The Rain

It was very windy in the parking lot this morning when the Tuesday Walkers started, but we saw a dunlin and a least sandpiper in the mud with the killdeer so that was nice.  The wind abated, but then the rain came!  Some of us crossed the canal and headed back to the cars, while the rest trudged on in the rain and mud.  There were green-winged teals, mallards, northern shovelers, common mergansers and a horned grebe on the lake.  An adult bald eagle circled the lake a few time before it flew off to the east.  At least one Anna's hummingbird is still around and was at the feeder.  Twenty seven species today – not bad for a VERY wet outing.

Swans Over Bennington

Shortly after the Tuesday Morning Walkers gathered at Bennington Lake this morning three tundra swans flew towards the lake.  They were followed by 13 more – all of them calling.  What a beautiful sight!  They circled the lake for about 10 minutes before they decided to fly further south, but they were close enough to hear the sound of their wings as they flew over.  Later they flew back over much higher and didn't stop to circle.  While walking through the "owl grove" we watched a young Cooper's hawk harassing two different great horned owls.  At one point it dove on the owl with its talons down, but the owl just gave it a quick look and kept on sleeping.  There were two Anna's hummingbirds at MerryLynn's feeder.  Other nice birds seen were several singing

Townsend's solitaires, a northern shrike, a sharp-shinned hawk and a pectoral sandpiper.  There was a nice variety of waterfowl on the lake, but nothing unusual.  We saw a total of 33 species.

Red phalarope on Bennington Lake

The Tuesday morning walkers found a RED PHALAROPE on Bennington Lake this morning. A first for Bennington Lake and a rare county species.  We chased it around the lake and Judy finally got some photos of it.  You can see these on the Blue Mountain Audubon Facebook page. Thanks to Sue for finding it, Judy for photographing it and MerryLynn for identifying it. 

 

The air was a clear and crisp this morning – a beautiful day for a walk.  There were  28 killdeer and 3 long-billed dowitchers in the mud. We also saw few singing Townsend's solitaires, 3 northern harriers, a sharp-shinned hawk, a red-tailed hawk and lots of ruby-crowned kinglets , black-capped chickadees, dark-eyed juncos and white-crowned sparrows darting in and out of the shrubs and trees as we enjoyed our walk.  We saw 25 species today.