May 7th - May rain, May not, May even snow

Awake in Trout Lake

Kevin had gotten in pretty late in the evening, and the previous day had been a long one for me. Rather than running off to do any owling in the morning, we went ahead and "slept in" a little, although in birding terms that's never too late into the morning!

Cabin 3 - Sleeping Beauty

Our home base for the weekend was Cabin 3 at the Trout Lake Cozy Cabins. They were not lying with cozy! The beds were comfy, and the heat worked just fine. I may even have left the heat up a little too high. We got coffee figured out and went through our plans for the day. Conboy. Conboy was our plans for the day.

Trout Lake is almost in the far Northwest corner of Klickitat County. Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge is almost as far to the Northwest as Trout Lake. Having just read the website introduction to the refuge, we'll take a momentary break from the normal dreck to give you their intro!

Picture a rustic cabin in a grassy meadow bursting with colorful blooms. The smell of tall, ruddy-barked ponderosa pines fills the air. The distinctive trumpeting of Sandhill cranes echoes throughout the refuge as they descend to their valley home. Calm water reflects the rich and varied greens of meadows and forested hills. Dancing glints of sunlight catch the eye as a stream winds its way from hill to lake. This, in part, is the experience of Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and you are welcome here. In fact, people have been coming here for millennia. Native Americans found life-sustaining resources in abundance, and nineteenth century settlers could see its tremendous potential as a place to call home. All the while, the wildlife lived here, too.

How could one pass on a description like that? Although to Kevin and me, the main source of excitement was the possibility of some good woodpeckers! Red-naped Sapsucker, as well as White-headed and Black-backed Woodpeckers had all been included on a recent trip checklist from Conboy. 

Even though Conboy wasn't far away, Kevin and I found opportunities to find new birds as soon as we stepped out the door. Townsend's Warblers (species number 139 for the year) were among the birds calling from the trees around the cabin as we packed up to go.

Along the way, we spent a lot of time with the windows down and eyes scanning all around us. Warbling Vireo (140), and Tree Swallow (141) were among the early additions. At one point, we stopped for a flock of pigeons. I'd had the darndest time finding any Mourning Doves or Rock Pigeons in the county, having only picked up my first the day before. This turned out to be the last species I needed from this family: Band-tailed Pigeons (142)!

Band-tailed Pigeons

These birds are easier to find in the West half of the state, and always tend to have favorite spots. Just over the Cascade crest, they can still be found in similar areas, including the Trout Lake area. After looking these over, Kevin got a peek-a-boo view of some birds in an agricultural/industrial looking gravel lot across from the pigeons. Least Sandpipers! (143) We had a good laugh at the find, and briefly considered marking the muddy lot as an eBird hotspot with a flashy name. We decided against it. 

Least Sandpipers

I laugh more, and I find more birds when I'm with Kevin. These are not bad things. We've explored quite a few counties together over the last decade, and it was just a joy to have him along for the trip. Our future bird-themed rock band Sage Thrasher picked up a few new possible tunes over the course of the weekend as well. 

We scoped that parking lot hard, hoping to add to our little shorebird bonanza, but in the end, it was as productive as. . . well, as a muddy gravel parking lot in the spring. 

Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Tree Swallows

Conboy was a great stop. I keep telling myself this afterwards, and it's true. We were just so darned focused on searching for these woodpeckers that it took some reminding on this point! But it turned out to be over 50 species of birds in the end. 

Early on, we had views of Western Bluebirds busy near a distant nest box. On this trip, one thing sunk in regarding bluebirds: it's fun to watch them fly. It's almost an identifiable thing for me now. It's subtle, but there's just a slight playfulness to the way they fly. And I say this with a dash of apology, because I'm a science guy at heart, and there's ways to quantify just about everything if you work at it. But I don't really know how to measure this exactly. They're just fun. 

Sora

The Willard Springs Foot Trail sets out from the Visitor Center, and immediately takes you towards a huge wet field holding ducks, geese, and some Sandhill Cranes. This was where I found my first Wood Ducks (144), and Cinnamon Teal (145) of the year. Kevin and I came across some sparrows as well. 

Perhaps best to say that Kevin came across them and tried hard to point at the sparrows ten feet from us, all to no avail! It's always amazing to bird with others and realized just how bad I am at picking up a moving bird. So I missed a Lincoln's Sparrow that Kevin found, but eventually got on a Savannah Sparrow (146) in the grasses and shrubs lining the field. 

Sora (147) was a fun find and was walking in plain view for us. We heard and saw plenty of Sora over the course of the weekend. Very active time for them! Other new birds in this marshy area included Common Yellowthroat (148), Marsh Wren (149), Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds (150). A Peregrine Falcon flyover made it 151 for the year. 

This path eventually took us into a more forested patch, but it never felt like we were more than 20 feet or so away from the wet open fields. The forest gave us Red-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatch, Brown Creeper (152), Townsend's Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler (153), House Wren, Wilson's Warbler (154), Golden-crowned Kinglet (155) and Pacific-slope Flycatcher (156). We listened to Lesser Goldfinches (157) calling for a good long while before realizing what we were listening to as well! We also saw and heard every Yellow-rumped Warbler on Earth, quite likely.

Holy cow we stopped a lot to listen for woodpeckers! Northern Flickers were seen and heard in small numbers, and we finally got a look at a Pileated Woodpecker flying overhead after giving some raucous calls in the distance. This was at the end of the road, at the have-a-seat bench at Willard Springs. MacGillivray's Warbler (158) and Gray Flycatcher were found at this little opening as well. 

There were just so many signs of woodpeckers that we were expecting to encounter. Signs like: 

I'd visit here if I was a woodpecker, just sayin'.

1. tapping
2. baby woodpeckers
3. woodpeckers
4. signs

But it was just quiet, even most of the way back. We did finally come across a single Hairy Woodpecker, but it just wasn't the woodpeckers-falling-off-of-every-branch experience our minds had concocted for us. 

We continued around the refuge on other roads. Most of them took us past more water, more soras, more swallows (including Barn Swallows (159) and Northern Rough-winged (160)), and the occasional Sandhill Cranes. I did finally find Northern Shovelers (161), and a heard-only window down drive by Rufous Hummingbird! (162). We knew we'd get this bird plenty of times through the weekend, so that was good enough for today. 

Regrouping

Mount Adams from the front door of the cabin

This got us to about noon. Kevin and I got back to the cabin in Trout Lake and grabbed some lunch. What did I not do? Fill out my eBird checklists. Why not?? Kevin had been putting them all up and sharing them throughout the trip. Anyone who has gone through this labor knows what a gift this was!

We sat and chatted and thought of "where next. . .?" We tried researching a little. I researched the backsides of my eyelids for a while. In the end, we thought that heading Northwest held some appeal. The general sentiment, after seeing a lot of the same birds over a several hour several mile hike is to mix it up a little. So we decided to head to Trout Lake Natural Area Preserve to try for some odd ducks, especially Barrow's Goldeneye, but maybe also Blue-winged Teal. 

It was a nice little stop! We heard yet more Soras, yet more Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a vocal, active Dusky Flycatcher. We also got a Spotted Sandpiper (163) down on a log on the water's edge. We kept going up the road, stopping mostly at clearcuts now, looking and listening for early Olive-sided Flycatchers. One fun find was a tree full of Turkey Vultures. 

We kept going. . . kept going. . . and it just felt like one of these turns was going to bring us to a sign that said we were leaving Klickitat County and entering Skamania. This never happened! We didn't realize at the time just how far it was to the Northwest corner of the county, just chalking it up to poor sign placement. 

We pulled in at the Station Cafe in Trout Lake. Kevin for a beer (they had Everybody's Brewing from White Salmon on tap) and me for Huckleberry Ice Cream. Neither of us were disappointed. 

We were the only customers at that hour of the day. We were right on the cusp of tourist season, and it had been a pretty rainy forecast (not that it had been rough for us). It's certainly a spot I'll be returning to for Huckleberry anything, honestly. 

Pizza came from Mount Adams Pizza Company - right there in the parking lot for the cabins. They did a 1000 percent veggie pizza for us, and it was well done. Pretty handy as well to be able to take the buzzer back to the cabin and get buzzed when it was ready! We spent the evening playing card games, catching up, and making plans - always always making plans!

One of those plans was to hit Panackanik Road for owls if the weather allowed. Snow was in the forecast, but we were going to at least have a peek outside and decide. And with that, we drifted off to sleep. 

Snow time like the present!

2 A.M. and 32 degrees were too early and cold respectively for Kevin, but I couldn't resist. I stepped outside and saw stars. Somehow, if there are stars above you, and the air is calm, the cold becomes much more bearable. I strolled up the major road, calling, listening, walking some more. It did start snowing - big fluffy flakes. I was shocked that I came out empty handed! Although it's past the peak calling season for owls, the habitat seemed nice enough, and I could hear for miles with the air that calm. I hung it up around 3:30 or 4:00 and flopped back in bed. No new owls, but very content with the search!