June 20th bird walk

Only two of us turned out for the bird walk on Monday of this week. It was probably the nicest morning of the year, weather-wise. Perfect for a walk. We decided to go to the MVSTA Suspension Bridge parking area on the Community Trail and walk down valley towards the cottonwood forest in hopes of seeing some Redstarts and other specialties of that habitat. Neither one of us is good with calls of vireos and redstarts so it made hunting them down pretty difficult. The river is still running very high and there were no American Dippers in sight.

One of our choicest views was that of the Lady-slipper Orchid in a big patch next to the trail. Wild roses were also numerous and fragrant.

Here is our list of bird species.

Turkey Vulture - seen while driving

American Kestrel - seen while driving

Mourning Dove

Black Swift - seen while driving

Rufous Hummingbird

Northern Flicker

Western Wood-Pewee

Unidentified Empidonax

Common Raven

Violet-green Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Veery

Swainson's Thrush

American Robin

Gray Catbird

Cedar Waxwing

Yellow Warbler

Spotted Towhee

Chipping Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Black-headed Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird

Cassin's Finch

Pine Siskin

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

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!)