County Birding: Skamania and Klickitat Counties, Washington

Gadwall Anas strepera at Skamania Landing.

Thursday Nov 15th I headed south with a friend to get out of town and to my eBird county lists in Clark, Skamania and Klickitat Counties in Washington. Before the trip I had there birding goals. One was to add two species to my Clark County list, at 98 species prior to this trip, getting over 100 species in that county. The other goals were to spend part of a day birding both Wakiakum and Kittitas Counties, places I’d not birded in the “winter” previously.

Just a snippet of the waterfowl at Skamania Landing. Tundra Swans along with Ringed-neck Duck and Hooded Mergansers.

We made just one stop in Clark County, at Marine Park, where I expected to easily add several species of gulls, ducks, grebes and loons to my Clark list. As it turned out there was a good flock of gulls on the sandbar there, and I added two new species of gulls, Iceland (Thayer’s type) and Mew Gulls, but although California Gull would have been new, I saw none, and no grebes (I needed Horned and Western which I had expected likely) or loons (none seen) were to be found. Almost no passerines were in the nearby treeline, and I headed off meeting my modest goal of 2 new species exactly.

Tundra Swans were the most dramatic birds of the first day.

We made a stop at the #1 eBird hotspot for number of species seen, Skamania Landing next. I had hoped for a lot of both waterfowl and other birds typically seen on or near the water, as well as several song birds. Skamania Landing is a bridge of land separating the Columbia River from a large, very shallow wetlands north of the land bridge. The area is perfect for ducks, geese, swans and herons/egrets. I added several species of geese and ducks, Tundra Swan, Great-blue Heron and Great Egret, and a handful of common passerines there, but overall it was less birdy than I’d hoped.

An odd view of a Canada Goose Branta canadensis at Skamania Landing.

We headed for the Skamania Lodge where I got out for a short walk before dark adding Pacific Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet and Fox Sparrow to my county list.

Lewis's Woodpeckers Melanerpes lewis were all over the place near Balsh Road were we spent much of the morning in Klickitat County.

Friday we headed east to Klickitat County. My primary goal there was to add Acorn Woodpecker to my 2018 state list, and I managed with just a distant scope look at a single bird near the granary tree known for this species across from Balsh Road. We did enjoy great looks at Wood Duck, lots of looks at many Lewis’s Woodpeckers, and enjoyed the day. We also made a stop at the Columbia Gorge Museum in Stevenson before calling it a day.

This Gadwall in flight is a bit out of focus, but I like the effect.

Today on the way home we stopped at the Rock Creek Mill Pond to add a few missed waterfowl, and back again at Skamania Landing in hopes an early visit would be better for passerines. Unfortunately near the Columbia this morning the wind was very strong and almost no songbirds were moving or visible. Quick stops at BIngen Pond (where Trumpeter Swans have been seen recently revealed only 18 swans with their heads tucked to keep out of the wind, so I couldn’t see if any were Trumpeter vs. Tundra Swans. The only two that raised their heads were Tundras. We did take a nice ride on a pastoral area Marble and Fitzerald Road in Washougal, and added American Kestral and Western Meadowlark.

Great Blue Herons Ardea herodias are very common in our area, and can be obliging models for closeup photos, making for some funny shots.

The ride home was pleasant, and I got home in time to look unsuccessfully for the Palm Warbler that was found a couple of hours after I headed south on Thursday. The Washington Huskies won easily today in their football game, I watched the Seahawks beat Green Bay on Thursday night at a sports bar for dinner and in the hotel for the second half, and overall had a great trip. I ended up adding 32 new Skamania County birds to my ebird list that is now at 51, and 28 new Klickitat County species bringing my life list there to 75 species.

A wind-blown perched Great-blue Heron.

Good birding. Steem on!