I’ve set a goal for myself for 2023 to wrap up the last 4 counties in WA to put me over 100 species reported in eBird for every Washington county. Not unexpectedly all of these counties are far from Tacoma in Pierce County where I live. Three of these counties are in SE Washington, an area I’ve birded primarily in winter when some of the northern visiting birds are possible. That said I made a trip to Asotin County in July 2020 when Marian and I camped at Field Springs State park, amnd between that and winter trips I have reported 134 species for the southeastern most WA county. That left Whitman, Garfield and Columbia counties as the other three SE counties where I had yet to see >100 species.
Marian had a family gathering in Wenachee for the weekend, and I decided to take advantage and hjead off birding.
On Thursday June 1 I headed out after a good nights sleep, not leaving until about 8 AM. I drove pretty much straight to Whitman County, with Kamiak Butte the planned first stop for the afternoon. I managed Lazuli Bunting and Brewer’s Blackbirds as roadside ticks on the entry road, then got to the park at 2:15. I had little idea what to expect, and it was a busy forested butte with two busloads of school children at the playground. That said I was pretty happy to immediately hear Veery singing, and lots of other bird song. ON a 2-hour hike I managed 12 county lifers, including Pacific Slope (I didn’t have the inclination to call them Cordillaran) and Hammond’s Flycatchers, and a good variety of forest species. On the ride back to Colfax I flushed a Wilson’s Snipe from a roadside ditch, and spotted a Wild Turkey beside the road.

After checking into the Best Western in Colfax, and getting Mexican food for dinner, I walked the Colfax Trail as the sun dropped, and finished the day with with Whitman County species #102 with a singing Canyon Wren on the cliff beside the trail.

The next morning I headed for Steptoe Butte, a place I’ve been wanting to see for years. It is a pretty cool place, and I got theere at 6:34, and it was cool and sunny. I walked near the bottom parking lot and then drove to the top and birded my way back down. It was spectacular, with great vistas of the Palouse, and lots of birds. Rock Wrens were singing everywhere near the top, Yellow-breasted Chats and Vesper Sparrow were great to see, and I left Whitman County with my list at 109 species
From there I drove back through Colfax to start my Garfield County birding at Central Ferry where Osprey, Violet-green and Cliff Swallows were easy county firsts. I drove down Deadman Creek, a nice backwater area with singing Common Yellowthroat, an American White Pelican, and the usual riparian species were added. I went to lunch at Willow Landing where I enjoyed Marian’s lasagna, and added Blue-winged Teal, Lazuli Bunting and really enjoyed a Yellow-breasted Chat that flew high in the air, singing loudly, and then fixed its wings upward and parachuted back to its perch like a skylark. A behavior I’d never seen. Just as I left it was fun to see a male Northern Harrier perched on a “Feel Free to Hunt” sign.
From here I headed for the higher elevations of the county, hoping for breeding species of the Ponderosa Pine forests and agricultural areas. My favorite stop was Bosley Grade Road, a forested area on a dirt road down a steep grade. It was pretty birdy, with a creek beside the road and I added 9 county firsts there, including typical singing birds, Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Dusky and Hammond’s Flycatchers, Cassin’s and Warbling Vireos, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
I headed up Mountain Road, adding Western and Mountain Bluebirds, and Vesper Sparrow.

I headed back to Dayton, adding flycatchers (Eastern and Western Kingbirds and Say’s Phoebe) from the car on the ride as Columbia County birds, only to find that the Best Western rated had gone up to $200. + per night, so I settled for the barely adequate Blue Mountain Motel. I found a city park for dinner, and rather than spend time in the room, went to a nice city park with a fishing pond and riverside walk for a picnic dinner. The last of the lasagna was nice, as was the walk. I added Spotted Sandpiper and the easy swallows there.

After a decent night’s sleep, I quickly birded Lewis & Clark SP for low elevation species, before I headed up Jasper Mountain Road for the morning. There I enjoyed a Cooper’s Hawk hopping around on the ground after what looked like recently fledged Brown-headed Cowbirds, singing Veerys, I’d never been in this area, so dlot’s of singing Pacific Slope (Cordillaran) Flycatchers and a calling Pileated Woodpecker. I decided to try Jasper Mountain rather than the Toucannon Road area which is more well known for birding. It worked out well, with good birding, beautiful scenery, and new places to see. An unexpected Lark Sparrow on a wire, lots of Mountain Bluebirds, and a nice variety of dry forest species were found. In the afternoon I headed for Toucannan Road area, adding Red-eyed Vireo and Turkey Vulture (this was the only TV sighting of the trip). By then I was a bit weary, and as I had my goal >100 species in each county I decided to head for home. I made a few stops on the way, partly to rest and stretch, and partly birding. Most interesting was a very quick stop at Palouse Falls SP to easily add White-throated Swift at the Para Ponds in Othello where FOY Lesser Yellowlegs was found, and hoped for Forester’s Tern was not.

I got home by 9:30 and was happy to sleep in my own bed.
Trip totals:
Whitman: 109 life, 67 for the trip.
Garfield: 110 life, 65 for the trip
Columbia 111 life, 66 for the trip.

Marian and I took a break from politics, seawatching and Pierce County and headed off south so I could try to put a few more WA counties into the >100 species seen bucket. Thursday was a beautiful day, and we started at a clearcut in northern Cowlitz County that is not far from I-5 but gets into higher elevation habitat that I’d not birded in Cowlitz before, Barnes Drive State Forest South. It’s a fairly extensive clearcut with easy parking and access. Canada Jays were seen and heard almost immediately, and when I whistled my NOPY imitation two Northern Pygmy Owls responded almost immediately from either side of the logging road to the cut area. We tried but could not locate them, though they moved around a bit. Lincoln’s Sparrow, Fox Sparrow and Varied Thrush were also new Cowlitz species for me, pushing my county list from 98 to 103 on the first stop. We then headed to Wahkiakum County.
A California Gull at County Line Park was #98 for the county, followed by Pine Siskin at Brook’s Slough and a pair of Downy Woodpeckers near Andrew Emlen’s kayak tour shop on Steamboat Slough for #100. We spent a beautiful late afternoon at Julia Butlere NWR where Lincoln’s Sparrow, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Peregrine Falcon and Virginia Rail brough Wahkiakum one ahead of Cowlitz at 104 and the sun set on a beautiful day.
After staying in Kelso we awoke to wind, rain and cold weather. Fog was thick and birding nearly impossible. We tried some car birding in the Woodland Bottoms area, and #104 for the county were a few Northern Shoveler at the Longview Sewer Ponds. We did see lots of Sandhill Cranes in the bottoms, but quit early there and headed for the primary county of my trip, Skamania.
Stops just past the county line at Franz Lake just got me wetter, though even in the heavy rain both swan species were easily seen. We headed for Rock Creek Mill Pond, where a Ross’s Goose had been seen the day prior. Highlight there was meeting Jim Danzenbaker. Jim is a very well known WA birder, prior WOS president and Battleground, WA resident. He had birded the area despite the rain and wind and not seen the ROGO, saving me some wet searching time. We had a nice chat, and I added a somewhat unusual Western Gull, along with American Coot and Pied-billed Grebe to my list.
The rain let up a bit, and several stops along the river added Herring Gull, a somewhat uncommon Surf Scoter, and Greater Scaup. At the Drano Lake Fish Hatchery area a Common Loon was in the protected area of water, and an American Dippers was near the hatchery bridge. Lesser Scaup by the mouth of Windy River, and then time lost wandering around the Strawberry Island area yielded just CBCH and California Gull, leaving me far short of the hoped for list for the day, at 82 life in the county.
No good places we could find to stay in Stevenson, so we crossed the Bridge of the Gods to Hood River, stayed at a nice Best Western, and in a first for the Covid-time at a restaurant on an outside deck with a gas heater and had a vegan burger and I tried a flight of local beers.

Saturday turned beautiful, and we headed for higher elevation Skamania County. My navigation skills failed us, as I tried going up the Wind River Hwy with goal of lots of stops enroute to Takhlakh Lake Campground. Well, we made lost of stops, had plenty of Canada Jays eating our of Marian’s hands, and wound up on a dead end road at Steamboat Lake. I cried uncle, we made it back to Trout Lake, finding “Tire Junction” on the way, and took main roads up to the campground, getting there about noon.

Highlights of the wandering route were a Sooty Grouse Marian spotted beside the road, and I managed to relocate just off the road with a little bushwhacking, a flock of Red Crossbills at Old Man Pass Sno Park, and beautiful scenery.

The campground at Takhlakh is spectacular, with Mt. Adams just across the lake. A NOPY responded to my whistles, and circled all around us several times eluding visuals. Oddly for Oct 31 an Osprey called and circled overhead. Mountain Chickadee was the only additional county lifer.

We made our way back down, making a few stops in Klickitat County at Trout Lake and Bingen Pond and adding Yellow-rumped Warbler as the sun set on Halloween, 2020.
at a Pizza Place, great pizza, a couple beers on draft, and a table without service far from other places, and stayed dry.

We stayed in Oregon again in Hood River at another Best Western, and decided to try a Pizza Place, great pizza- really great pizza, a couple beers on draft, and a table without service far from other places, and stayed dry. I decided to try to get Klickitat to 100, and we managed Sunday morning, adding Peregrine Falcon, Northern Harrier and Virginia Rail at a quick stop back at Bingen Pond before heading for an area familiar to me from summertime birding, the Lyle-Balch Cemetery and Acorn Woodpecker area. In short order we added Varied Thrush, Steller’s Jay, and California Quail, getting to #99. The pond was nearly dry, but on getting down the hill to the old granary area for Acorn Woodpecker, a Red-breasted Sapsucker flew into the small treed just across Old Hwy 8. I found a great parking spot to look for ACWO, about 100 yards east of the Balsh Hill Rd junction with Old Hwy 8, pulled in and set up the scope. In a few minutes an Acorn Woodpecker flew in and perched atop a very tall snag. This turned out to be what I think may be a new granary tree. It’s easy to see, maybe 100-150 yards from the road, and in clear sight just east of straight across from the place I parked. At least 3 ACWO were working the tree, and it had lots of acorn holes.
We wrapped up the trip back at the Rock Creek Mill Pond park, adding Northern Shoveler and an unusual Snow Goose to my county list, leaving it only 94.
The trip home was uneventful, and on getting home we watched the Seahawks (on recording) destroy the 49ers to wrap up a great trip.
I now have >=100 species in all the counties in WA west of I-90. My next big county listing trip may be to Spokane, Ferry, Lincoln and Whitman Counties in a week or two.