Date: 3/27/25 1:16 am From: Tim Brennan via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: [Tweeters] Walla Walla and Columbia Counties
Heya Tweets!
I just got back today from a few days in the Southeast corner of the state. I've been focusing on Columbia County, but have been adding stops in Walla Walla, hoping to piece together 150 species for the year in both.
A Ross's Goose at Burbank Slough was the target of my first stop. It would be a lifer for me, so I was pretty excited. . . Until I saw how far away the geese were! I was unable to pick out the goose (seen both before and after my visit) through my scope, but they did take flight, so there's a chance that I'll be able to find it in one of the pictures I snapped.
I also stopped at the Tyson Blood Ponds (Eurasian Wigeon) and 9-mile Canyon (Ferruginous Hawk) on the way through Walla Walla County.
The Columbia birding was great. Waterfowl are often tough in Columbia, but I've found a few productive spots. A field viewed from Timpey Road (next to Lewis and Clark State Park) has been flooded on all of my visits, and gave me Green-winged Teal on this stop. Pittman Road dead ends at a pond that has had some good ducks and geese (including my first Ring-necked Ducks of the year on this visit). The signage around the spot is pretty foreboding, but one of the residents passed me and confirmed that I was fine parked and birding as I was.
The final, and best, spot for waterfowl has been the Tucannon HMU trail that can be taken out to the mouth of the river, where it empties into the Snake. At the mouth, there are scads of ducks and geese to pick through. The addition this time was Northern Pintail, along with a handful of other passerines along the walk. Farther up Tucannon Road, I had a flyover Ferruginous Hawk.
I also hit higher elevations. Yesterday afternoon, I took Tucannon Road to Patrick Grade Road (FR 4620), and was able to find Clark's Nutcrackers. This morning I took Eckler Mountain Road to Kendall Skyline Road adding quite a few new birds, including American Goshawk, and a quite unexpected Barred Owl! 97 Species for Columbia County so far this year!
A bit behind on blogging, but I'll post here once I'm caught up.
