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.