Big Valley Bird Walk

Yesterday, 8 of us met at the MVSTA parking lot for one of NCW Audubon's summer bird walks. Weather was at long last, perfect - warm and calm and dry. It seems that summer has finally arrived. We car pooled to the Big Valley section of the Methow Wildlife Area in hopes of observing Veerys, Lazuli Buntings, various vireos and American Redstarts, among others. None of us were 'experts' and we are all trying to learn the less common bird songs and calls of the migrants who nest in our area. To this end, two of us brought our electronic devices to help with identification. These birds are often hidden in the canopy of cottonwoods, aspens and water birch so the song may be all the observation we get.

Ladyslipper Orchid

In addition to birds, we saw many wildflowers including ladyslipper orchids, tiger lilies, immense cow parsnips, northern bedstraw, Canada violet (a white violet - new to all of us), and many others. The non-stop spring rains have created a lush landscape of four foot tall grasses and bracken fern over our heads.

Cow Parsnip

Tiger Lily

I was glad to have flowers to photograph since the birds were not nearly so cooperative. Here are the species we observed, some of them were heard and not seen.

Spotted Sandpiper

Mourning Dove

Calliope Hummingbird
Red-naped Sapsucker - appeared to be nesting pair although we did not find the nest
Downy Woodpecker - we observed male and female feeding young at a nest
Hairy Woodpecker
Western Wood-Pewee
Hammond's Flycatcher
Unidentified Empidonax
Cassin's Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Veery
Swainson’s Thrush
American Robin
Varied Thrush
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lazuli Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Cassin's Finch


Total number of species observed: 33

Next NCW Audubon Methow Bird Walk is July 6, meet at MVSTA parking lot 7:30 am

Townsend's Solitaire nest

This nest was located along a private road going to a friend's house. She had noticed the adults flying in and out and was able to observe the eggs and then the young. Apparently it is normal for these birds to nest on the ground with grass covering the site. Normally there would be a better grass cover than this one had.

A few days after I saw it she said the young were gone. With a little research online she learned fledging by 14 days is usual. By that time they are capable of sustained flight. They can leave by 8 days and will move quickly away from the nest site... on the ground emitting a Szhree call to allow the parents to find them and to feed them. The parents divide up and feed different chicks because the chicks head in all different directions - fast. If disturbed they will leave the nest early.

Today's Bird Walk

Four of us met at the MVSTA parking lot at 7:30 and drove over to the Winthrop National Fish Hatchery for a morning bird walk. Weather was windy and cool. Will we ever get reliable weather? The hatchery has lots of mature deciduous trees, a flowing body of water referred to as either Spring Creek or the Foghorn Ditch, depending on who you ask. In addition to birds a person can see young fish being reared, returning Chinook salmon and beavers that are being acclimated in the raceways until the time they are released in areas to create new ponds and wetlands where needed.

Due to the wind it was difficult to hear the singing birds and also, maybe because of the cool temperatures, not many were moving around. We were able to get great looks at Gray Catbirds, Cedar Waxwings and Song Sparrows. A MacGillivray's Warbler called from a dense willow but never showed itself. The area was overseen by a Bald Eagle roosting in a nearly dead ponderosa pine.

Despite the weather we had an enjoyable time, looking at and listening to the birds. One person was pretty new to birding and she quite enjoyed the sights and sounds.

Here is our list for the morning:
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Killdeer (heard only)
Mourning Dove (heard only)
Hummingbird sp
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Hammond's Flycatcher
American Crow
Common Raven
Violet-green Swallow
House Wren
Veery (heard only)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
MacGillivray's Warbler
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
American Goldfinch

Come join us. The next walk is June 23rd, meeting at the MVSTA parking lot at 7:30 am. If we have good weather we will try for Redstarts along the Community Trail.

Birds, botanizing and mushrooms

I went with my friend Juliet to the Oden burn on the Okanogan side of the Loup today. We were hoping to find some morels and maybe see some interesting birds. We did both and saw some cool plants and many fruiting lichens. Also observed some strange logging going on turning tiny streams and seeps into muddy holes and trenches. It was hard to tell what was the purpose of all the heavy equipment activity on the wet ground.

A pair of Black-backed Woodpeckers foraged for their nestlings while we ate lunch. This is a photo of the female. The image was made with a point and shoot camera.

This is a tiny fruiting lichen.

Here is a list of the birds we observed:
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor)
Lewis' Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis)
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)
Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus)
Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus)
Western Wood-Pewee (Contopus sordidulus)
Unidentified Empidonax (Empidonax sp.)
Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana)
Common Raven (Corvus corax)
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)
Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus)
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)
Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana)
Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides)
Townsend's Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana)
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
We also saw a thrush and finches that we did not identify.

It was a good day with fine weather!

A Question About Evening Grosbeaks

One of our members, Patti (near Castle Rock, Wenatchee), just sent us this question:
"How long do the Evening Grosbeaks stay here?   They are eating me out of house and home.   So far they have eaten well over 15 lbs of sunflower hearts in less than 6 days."  She reports having as many as 25 in her yard at once!
We thought this would be a great question to pose to all our viewers, to compare experiences from folks across our region. 
I'll start:  I live in the Methow Valley, in shrub-steppe habitat.  We had evening grosbeaks at our feeder a good deal of the winter; then they disappeared in early spring, and now they have returned again (about a week ago).  Lately we've been averaging 4-6 pairs at a time.  Yes, they do love black oil sunflower seeds, and would eat us out of house and home as well, if we didn't ration the food!  They are beautiful birds, and fun to watch, though I think they can be a bit intimidating to the smaller birds.  How long will they stay?  Who knows!  I'll report back when (if) they leave.


Please post comments to share your experiences with all of us!  Please include where you live, type of habitat, and number of birds.  Thanks!
(and thanks to Ed Stockard for the photo!)