A week in Chelan in mid August may not be the most popular birding location in WA, but that was the time for Marian’s time share this year, and a chance to get out of Dodge for a week, explore some new roads, and spend hot afternoons in the lake seems too good to pass up. I managed to get in some good county birding too.
On the trip over I stopped at a dirt road pull out near Liberty hoping for some new Kittitas County lifers, but by the time we got there it was late morning, over 90 degrees, and things were really quiet. Two species, but hearing and seeing Red Crossbills high in the pines was fun.
From there we headed towards Chelan with our only stop enroute at Entiat at the city park on the lake, hoping for shorebirds. The park was packed with people, and devoid of shorebird habitat and birds.
Sunday morning though we decided to beat the heat, and got up and drove up the road to Chelan Butte, starting birding there at daybreak, about 5:56 AM. It was a really nice morning. State FOY Dusky Grouse were on the roadside, Lewis’s Woodpeckers were all over the place, a pair of playful Gray Flycatchers gave a great show, and Sharp-shinned Hawk and Olive-sided Flycatcher were also first Chelan County birds. The road gets really steep near the top, fun to drive and the vistas from the butte are spectacular.
A quick stop at Chelan Falls Park again looking for shorebirds yielded none, but added Caspian Tern to my Chelan list. It is a nice park, and on a weekday early could be a good stop for passerines and water birds.
Maybe the best birding day was Monday, when we again got up early and headed up into the highlands out of Entiat. The first stop was great, just a mile or so up the Entiat River Road on the abandoned old road beside the river (Lake Entiat). Bullock’s Orioles, Gray Catbirds and a Yellow-breasted Chat were highlights, but we had a list of 23 species and lots of numbers. A Lazuli Bunting was singing like crazy but refused to give us a look.
From there we drove up the Entiat River Road, with stops by rocky cliffs, and by orchards to see what we could find. Western Bluebirds put on a show, along with California Quail just everywhere. When we got to FR 5300 (Mud Creek Road), a route described in the WA Bird Finding guide, the ride up the hill went through nice riparian habitat down low, then pine forest higher. FOY White-breasted Nuthatches were nice, along with several stops for flocks coming in nicely to Pygmy Owl imitation whistles. Red Crossbills were very common, and Cassin’s and Red-eyed Vireos, MacGilvary’s Warbler, White-headed Woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker, and a nice look at a Great-horned Owl that flew right in front of us then perched for looks and photos highlighted the drive. Instead of going further up the Entiat River Road we decided to enjoy the morning cool and just do this road slowly and enjoy it. 32 species including 6 Chelan County firsts were really great.
The rest of the week we had Marian’s daughter visit and so birded a bit less. I did get up to the Waterville Plateau hoping for shorebirds in Douglas County. The supposed flooded field on Heritage Road was not flooded, but Atkin’s Lake was great. I fought the sun a bit in the morning as the only good viewing was from the west looking east, but got great looks very close up at county first Baird’s Sandpipers, distant looks at Wilson’s Phalarope and Long-billed Dowichers, and very distant looks at about 1400 dabbling ducks, most too far and too backlit to ID, but fun to try.
The last fun bird of the trip was a pair of Common Nighthawks that put on a show over the lawn behind the Wapato Point condo we stayed in on Friday night.
A quick stop at Confluence Stat Park in Wenachee on the way home yielded no shorebirds or much else, and we got home safely.