US Northwest Birding Tour - Intro

Sometime in April I received an email from a birding friend of mine named Chris Geraghty. I knew Chris because of a chance encounter in Montreal some years ago. I was bird-watching at Ile Bizard and met a local birder named Sue. We were both taking photos and she suggested I post my shots to a site named Birdviewing.com . The site was created by Chris and it had a good collection of photos. I began posting some of my best photos on the site.

A couple of years ago, Chris moved from Montreal to Vancouver. We've been out birding here once or twice.

Chris was interested in doing a spring trip down into Washington, Oregon and Idaho and asked if I wanted to join him. He proposed that we go for about 10 days. I agreed and he picked me up in North Delta on this day.

Here's a photo of Chris somewhere in Central Washington near the end of our first day.

May 11 - Umtanum Creek Rec. Area, Ellensburg WA

After crossing the border at Blaine, we had to drive about 225 miles to get to our first location. Our target bird for this site was the White-headed Woodpecker. This would be a life bird for both of us and seeing one would be a great way to kick off the trip.

Our drive took less time than expected as both the I-5 and I-90 now have an 80 mph speed limit. We arrived at the entrance to Umtanum Creek Rec Area, just south of Ellensburg, by 7:30 AM.

One of the first birds seen was a male Bullock's Oriole. This poor shot was the best I could get, since it was a year bird, it is included here.

 Bullock's Oriole - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa
2019 Bird #77

I had better luck with this House Wren.

House Wren - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa

2019 Bird #78

At this time of the day there were many active birds including both species of Bluebird and a lone Mourning Dove.

Mountain Bluebird - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa - 2019 Bird #79

Mourning Dove - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa - 2019 Bird #80

Western Bluebird  - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa

2019 Bird #81

One of my favourite birds is the Sage Thrasher, a bird I've seen in the Okanagan a couple of times. I like the markings on the breast and the yellow eyes. This was my best shot of the morning so far.


Sage Thrasher - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa - 2019 Bird #82

It was apparent quite quickly that Chris was far more adept at spotting birds than I was. He found and identified this Brewer's Sparrow. I believe it was a lifer for him, I'd seen one in Arizona in 2008.


Brewer's Sparrow - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa - 2019 Bird #83

A more common bird was this Red-tailed Hawk, out looking for breakfast.

Red-tailed Hawk - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa

One more look at a Mountain Bluebird and we moved on further up the road.

Mountain Bluebird - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa

As we drove slowly along we were scanning for any sign of our target Woodpecker. We came to a more thickly forested area and Chris decided to pull over at what seemed to be a random spot.

He saw some movement from his side of the car and suddenly we had our target bird.


White-headed Woodpecker - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa
Life Bird #427 - 2019 Bird #84

This was a female bird, the male has some red on the back of it's head. I got one more accepatable photo and the bird was gone.

White-headed Woodpecker - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa

Having seen our target bird we decided it was time to start leaving the area. I got a few more shots as we went.

Western Bluebird (F)  - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa

I was happy with this shot of a male Western in the nesting box.

Western Bluebird  - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa

About a half hour later we spotted another Brewer's Sparrow. I think we were still in the Umtanum Creek area but could be wrong.

Brewer's Sparrow - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa

Named after the same person but completely unrelated is this Blackbird, the last bird I photographed in this area.

Brewer's Blackbird - Umtanum Creek Rec Area, Wa - 2019 Bird #85

This ended part one of our first day. We still had two more sites to visit as detailed in subsequent posts.

May 11 - Quilomene Wildlife Rec Area - Yakima WA

After leaving Umtanum Creek we had to backtrack north and east to get to this Game Management area near Yakima. It was about two and a half hours later when I took my next photo.

It was one of my best on the trip, a Sagebrush Sparrow. The bird was called a Sage Sparrow back in 1989, when I saw one near Sedona, Arizona.

It has recently been split into two species: the Sagebrush Sparrow and Bell's Sparrow. The Bell's has much darker markings around the eyes.

I looked at my 1989 prints and can't tell if it would qualify as a Bell's. There's not enough detail in the print. So, I won't call this one a lifer, just a great bird for 2019.

Sagebrush Sparrow - Quilomene Wildlife Area, Yakima WA - 2019 Bird #86

We saw Brewer's Sparrow again at this location, I was lucky to catch a shot of it in flight.

Brewer's Sparrow  - Quilomene Wildlife Area, Yakima WA

There were Mountain Bluebirds in the area, the light was better than it was earlier in the day.

Mountain Bluebird  - Quilomene Wildlife Area, Yakima WA

I got this shot as it took off.

Mountain Bluebird  - Quilomene Wildlife Area, Yakima WA

This is a female Mountain Bluebird, under represented in this blog.

Mountain Bluebird (F)  - Quilomene Wildlife Area, Yakima WA

We had a brief glimpse of a Cassin's Finch, probably the best shot of the species on the trip. They seem shyer than their House Finch cousins.

Cassin's Finch - Quilomene Wildlife Area, Yakima WA - 2019 Bird #87

It was mid-afternoon by now and we needed to move on. We'd make another major stop before heading south to Oregon for lodging.

May 11 - Columbia Hills State Park WA

Some of these photos may have been taken on the way to the park near Centerville WA.

The Black-billed Magpie is very common in certain areas, but I only saw a few on this trip. This was the best of a bad lot of photos that I took of this species.

Black-billed Magpie - Columbia Hills State Park near Centerville WA

2019 Bird # 88

Somewhat better was this Cinnamon Teal pair.


Cinnamon Teal - Columbia Hills State Park near Centerville WA - 2019 Bird # 89

Following the Teal was a pair of Gadwall. The differences between male and female are more subtle. The male has the black rump with the white patch.


Gadwall - Columbia Hills State Park near Centerville WA - 2019 Bird # 90

We heard some squawking overhead and I caught this avian drama, a Brewer's Blackbird harassing a Common Raven. I'd guess the Raven was trying to get into a nest.


The Raven was a new bird for 2019. We'd see many of them in Oregon and Idaho.


Brewer's Blackbird and Common Raven (#91) - Columbia Hills State Park WA

We were about to leave the park and were getting into the car when I spotted a Ring-necked Pheasant off to my right. I was able to get a burst of shots away. Poor Chris was on the wrong side of the car, but he did see the bird as it disappeared into the brush.

This was my first North American sighting for the year, but I did see one in Italy in March while on a train between Rome and Venice.

Ring-necked Pheasant  - Columbia Hills State Park WA

2019 Bird #92

Chris then spotted our first Cliff Swallow of the trip a few seconds later.

 Cliff Swallow - Columbia Hills State Park WA

2019 Bird #93

And then he spotted a Pine Siskin, a common bird, but my first for the year.


Pine Siskin - Columbia Hills State Park near Centerville WA - 2019 Bird #94 

Also overhead was a Swainson's Hawk, a bird I normally see in Alberta. I was happy to get one on this trip as Alberta was not in my 2019 plans.

Swainson's Hawk - Columbia Hills State Park WA - 2019 Bird #95

Our last  bird in the park was a Western Kingbird, another new one for they year.


Western Kingbird - Columbia Hills State Park WA - 2019 Bird # 96  

We were staying in a town in Oregon named The Dalles and it was pretty well due south of our location. The only obstacle was the Columbia River. We had to drive west for about 30 miles to get to a bridge over the river. Somewhere along Highway 14 on the Washington side Chris spotted a California Scrub Jay along the road. Traffic wasn't too busy and we were able to pull off and get a shot or two.

California Scrub-Jay - Highway 14, WA

2019 Bird #97

After crossing into Oregon we now headed east to get to the Dalles. Along the way, we got one last look at some Mountain Bluebirds.


Mountain Bluebird - Highway 84, OR

Our last new bird for the day was a female Purple Finch.


Purple Finch (F) - Highway 84, OR

It had been quite a day, we'd been on the road for 12 to 13 hours.  I'd added 21 birds to my 2019 list and added the White-headed Woodpecker to my Life List.

We had a meal and crashed in the motel at the Dalles.

May 12 - Wallowa State Park, OR

This day was planned to be primarily a travel day. Most of our remaining target birds were further south in the state of Idaho. Since we were on the northern tip of Oregon, we had an 8 - 9 hour drive to get our next destination.

Of course, we did some birding along the way.

Our first bird of the day was the common House Sparrow, seen on the roof of the motel we stayed at overnight. This was actually the first of the year for me, I'd seen the closely related Italian Sparrow in Italy in March.

House Sparrow - The Dalles, OR - 2019 Bird #98

About 90 minutes later, I got some nice shots of a Ring-billed Gull in Arlington.

Ring-billed Gull - Arlington, OR

Later on, we stopped somewhere on Highway 84 and took a few photos of different birds.

Yellow-rumped Warbler - Highway 84, OR

Another bird seen on the way was this Swallow.

Violet-green Swallow - Highway 84, OR - 2019 Bird #99

Wallowa Lake State Park

We visited this park situated near the town of Joseph, Oregon. It wa our only real birding stop of the day.

Once again, we saw a beautifully coloured male Cinnamon Teal.

Cinnamon Teal - Wallowa State Park, OR

This is a poor shot of a Long-billed Curlew. We saw them in a couple of other places, but I never got a satisfying photo of one.

Long-billed Curlew - Wallowa State Park, OR - 2019 Bird #100

This is a Red-tailed Hawk, quite a dark one.

Red-tailed Hawk - Wallowa State Park, OR 

There's a gap of almost an hour before the next shot, I suspect we took a lunch break. After that, it was time for some mammals. First this ground squirrel. I'd say it's a California Ground Squirrel based on the brown face and where we were located.

California Ground Squirrel - Wallowa State Park, OR 

We then saw this Black Bear cub. This put us on guard as there was likely a Mama bear somewhere close by.

Black Bear cub - Wallowa State Park, OR 

Just minutes later, Chris spotted this Yellow Warbler. I think the photos were taken with the car doors open, ready for a fast escape.

Yellow Warbler - Wallowa State Park, OR

2019 Bird #101

About 45 minutes later we were more relaxed and chasing a sound that we both thought must be a Vireo. We did catch up with the bird eventually and Chris got some good shots. I had problems locating the bird and only got this rear facing shot, not the best for a lifer.

Cassin's Vireo - Wallowa State Park, OR

Life Bird #428 - 2019 Bird #102

To see a shot Chris posted on his Birdviewing site, check out this link:

Chris Geraghty - Cassin's Vireo

After this excitement, we saw a few more birds in the park:

Northern Rough-winged Swallow - Wallowa State Park, OR - 2019 Bird #103

Steller's Jay - Wallowa State Park, OR - 2019 Bird #104

Belted Kingfisher - Wallowa State Park, OR - 2019 Bird #105

After leaving the park, we drove for about 7 - 8 hours to reach our hotel in Almo, Idaho. The next morning we'd be tackling the City of Rocks National Reserve in Idaho. Chris had quite a list of target birds here, with possibilities for 3 to 5 lifers.