Skamania!


Skamania.  I am referring to the county in Washington, not my teenage wannabe rude girl days...

But anyway.  On Saturday I decided to head out to Skamania county to do some exploring.  I had driven through the county, climbed Beacon Rock, and hiked Wind Mountain, but I had never birded there. 

I picked up 37 species throughout the day and managed photos of far fewer.  The morning's first stop was at Mt Pleasant Cemetery not far over the county line...






It was sufficiently spooky, with Varied Thrushes and Steller's Jays providing living entertainment.  My next stop was the completely deserted Beacon Rock State Park. 


Beacon Rock looms over the park to the west...


Down by the water were hundreds of scaup, a handful of fishermen, and a soaring Bald Eagle...


After the park I headed west with a quick stop by the Bonneville Dam.  Ravens and a Red-tailed Hawk were the only birds of interest...


Along the Stevenson waterfront I picked up more birds like Western and Horned grebes, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, and House Sparrow. 

I was all ready to proclaim this post a sex and death-free post, but holy crap, I just noticed something in my photos from a little waterfall spot on Dog River...


See that?  Let me crop it for you...


Wow.  How the hell did I not notice that in person?! 


Moving on, I headed to the Spring Creek Fish Hatchery.  I wasn't expecting there to be a nice park attached to the hatchery with a walking path and river access.  Someone recently reported a Williamson's Sapsucker here but I never saw it.  I did see a mildly cooperative Varied Thrush...


Some kind of falcon took a quick swing through the hatchery when I first arrived, but too fast for a definitive ID.  After the hatchery I began to head back west towards Portland with a stop at Drano Lake...

Tired mutts

The lake held many Barrow's Goldeneyes and Common Mergansers, both new for the day.  It was also a good vantage point to see this nifty train tunnel (to the right of the highway tunnel):


My final stop was at the mouth of the Wind River- finally saw some wigeon and Hooded Mergansers, plus the train bridge was quite scenic.  At first I was psyched to see a train coming for the photo op...


But then I realized it was carrying car after car of what is most likely crude oil...


Fun.  So that was my day in Skamania county, a place I definitely hope to return to in the spring.  Good times!!

Comments

  1. Very cool.

    Way to deliver again with...what a whole deer? An elk? Grisly stuff, and gorgeous Thrush.

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  2. Its so pretty and scenic out there that the birds are just a bonus.

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  3. I love Skamania County, though it is the kind of place where bodies are always being found.

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  4. Fun outing Jen, boy that deer in the water is spooky! Good job on the long exposure on that water!!

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  5. Yikes! The deer reminds me of a scene in Deliverance.

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