Last weekend I headed east of the Cascades to bird some areas I had not visited before, and to introduce a friend and new birder to the experience of a birding trip. We found new roads, good birds and Marian survived, so overall I consider the trip a success.
We started going north to Hwy 20, the North Cascades Highway. The first birding stop was at the Goodell Creek Bridge near Newhalem. This is one of the best places in WA to see Black Swift. Black Swifts are believed to be breed only in nests behind waterfalls, and forage far and wide espeicially high up, so are tough to go find. It seems more often they are seen almost by accident, looking up into the sky on overcast days near the mountains. Today I lucked out. As I munched a PB&J sandwich on the bridge a single BLSW flew by, among many more Violet-green Swallows.
Next stop was at Washington Pass. I had never really stopped there before, but David Poortinga had reported a Spruce Grouse there a month prior, and it was a good half way stop for the day to stretch, so we pulled off on the Chelan County side and explored a bit. The meadow on the west side of the entrance road was lush, moist, and beautiful. A Spotted Sandpiper teetered on a stump in the middle of the meadow. Above the parking lot is a nice short hike to vistas in several directions, that was quite spectacular.
From there we headed on to Republic, where I thought I had reserved a room. As I got near, I brought up my Priceline app to get exact directions, and was momentarily confused when the map showed it was 1 day, 3 hours to the destination. It turns out I had a reservation in Republic, Missouri. Not helpful, and so we had to settle for the Honeymoon Suite at a low quality place. I felt like a newbie, egg on face. Still, a place to sleep was fine.
The next day I was excited to bird the Sandpoil River Valley. It is a well known area for eastern U.S. species whose range just makes it into WA in this riparian corredor. The best bird there for me was a calling Least Flycatcher. Misses were Northern Waterthrush, supposedly easy, but not for me that day, Red-eyed Vireo and Bobolink. Still it was great to explore a new area, and the overall birding was good.
About midday we took the turn east onto Wilson Creek Road to Freidlander Meadow, and had lunch and a sit down there. As we ate, and I studied the Red-crossbill flocks, Marian pointed out a large raptor. I oblgingly checked out what I figured was the Red-tailed Hawk that had been screaming, and was very happy to see my FOY Northern Goshawk zipping along the back side of the meadow. No photos as it kept popping behind trees, and gave only interrupted looks, but a clear-cut ID.
Just before lunch we had seen a Black Bear browsing beside the road, and the trip from lunch to the Inchelium Ferry across the Columbia River was uneventful. The ferry was pretty cool, and the drive down to Spokane was beautiful.
Saturday we headed up to Mt. Spokane State Park, and enjoyed the scenery, the short hikes, and another new area for me.
Sunday was maybe my favorite day of the trip. We birded Turnbull NWR in the AM, with lots of Gray Catbirds, waterfowl, and a nice scattering of Spokane County species.
After lunch we dipped into Whitman County, to fill out my county list there. Highlights were the two-track roads high with weeds in the wheat fields I chose from the DeLorme road atlas. We didn’t get high-centered, and on the way to Moses Lake for the night tried for Ferruginous Hawk at Wilson Creek (different place I think) but settled for a fly by FOY Black-crowned Night Heron.
I finished the trip with 5 FOY WA birds, 77 new Spokane County species (I started with only 10), 36 new Ferry County birds (83 now) and 22 new Whitman County species failing to make it over 50 species for the county as hot early afternoon was not a productive time there, and we only spent about 2 hours in the county.
It is always fun to explore new places, and Marian got a feel for what a birding road-trip is like. We got home safely, and I score the overall experience as quite good. Here is the route we took.
Good birding. Good day!
