For years Spokane Audubon Society has been hosting birding trips down to Lewiston/Clarkston area in early Spring. This year we decided to make it a whole weekend trip instead of a day trip.
Fourteen of us participated, including Emily Stark, Elliot Robison, Wanda Peters, Joe Cooney, Mary Marsh, Deb and Craig Johnson, Mike Borysewicz, Nan Berger and three L/C Valley local birders who wanted to join us. Bea and I have gotten to know some of the Palouse Audubon and Canyon Birder members, so we were glad to have Sarah Walker and Monique Slipher from Palouse Audubon Chapter and Keith Carlson from Canyon Birders join us.
Six of us rented a big B&B overlooking the Snake River. The others found accommodations nearby. We lucked out on the weather, and it was beautiful. Sarah, Monique and Keith were helpful in showing us some new places to bird. Keith is one of the folks who used to help lead trips for Spokane Audubon, pre-Covid.
Our first birding spot was Swallows Park on the Snake. The location is great because you can see a variety of passerines and waterfowl, but the pelicans and swans were no shows. Next, we went to the landfill to check out the gulls. This was a first for much of the group, including Deb and Craig, who thought we must be crazy to be birding at the dump! A murmuration of an estimated 5,000 starlings put on a show for us as we studied the gulls. Joe tried to turn one gull into a rare Iceland Gull, but it would not cooperate!
We then went up the river to Asotin where we visited Chief Looking Glass Park for birding and lunch. Yellow-rumped warblers were abundant there and a beautiful group of Barrow’s goldeneye ducks floated by as we had our lunch. We continued up the Snake River, stopping at riverside parks to check out the birds. It is a beautiful drive and we saw bighorn sheep across the way and watched kettles of hawks and eagles spiraling over the cliffs. We finally headed back north to check into our various abodes for the next two nights.
Saturday morning found us at Clearwater Landing in Lewiston. This is a lovely overlook and Keith joined us there, sharing some of his local wisdom. We spent the next hour looking at hundreds of ducks on the river. There were Lesser scaup, Mallards, Wood ducks, Bufflehead, Northern pintails, Ringnecks, Common goldeneyes and Green winged teal. The grain silos on the north side of the river are great waterfowl magnets. You can count ducks until your head hurts.
After checking the various ponds at the park we drove to the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater. The group, including Mike and Nan enjoyed seeing six Wood ducks posing peacefully in a tree, with a sleeping Great blue heron sleeping just above them. Keith then took us to the best place to observe the Black-crowned night herons that are known to roost there. We saw four adults and one young bird. Emily and Elliot were especially excited to get these birds in their scope and got some great DigiScope pictures.
Next, we headed east to Spalding Park at the Nez Pierce National Historic Site. We had lunch and spread out in search of birds. This is a very pretty park, and everyone said this was their favorite spot. Wanda especially loved this park’s quiet beauty.
After we spread out, I was walking by a cemetery adjacent to the park. I thought I heard an owl hoot, very softly, but only once. I walked over to Mary and asked her to help me find it. Her hearing is much better than mine. The next thing I knew, she was laying on her back in the grass looking up. There was white wash (owl poop) on the road near there. Mary was lying directly under a large Great horned owl high in the tree. I guess it was used to people because it just looked down at Mary as she very quietly looked up at it. Slowly, more people lay down beside Mary, until the whole group was lying there, next to the cemetery, like we were trying out the accommodations! The owl was not concerned and just continued resting. It was a special moment.
Next, we headed to Mann Lake, where we spotted a Eurasian wigeon hanging out with a large mixed group of ducks. We also had three beautiful Lesser goldfinches feeding just below us and a couple of recently arrived from migration Killdeer. I guess they were tired and we were tired by then, too, and we decided to head back to town.
Sunday morning some folks headed back home. The rest of us decided to go back down the Snake River, through Anatone Flats and into Fields Spring State Park. We stopped several times to look at Chukars. In the park we heard and saw Cassin’s finches calling from the treetops. All three nuthatches, Townsend’s solitaire and a beautiful Steller’s jay were seen. It was an enjoyable way to end our trip with such great people. Through the weekend, we saw a total of about 62 species.
