Lewis’s Woodpecker was, no doubt, well known to many Native American Tribes throughout the western states. Its first identification by non-native Americans came from those intrepid explorers, William Clark and Meriwether Lewis. These two men were well chosen by Thomas Jefferson to lead the "Corps of Discovery" in l803, a most successful exploration. To me these two men are true heroes. Not only did they find a route from Missouri to the Oregon Coast and back, losing only one man due to appendicitis early in the trip, they left detailed journals of great scientific value. Neither man was a trained scientist, yet they were extremely observant and alert to everything around them. Their very lives and the lives of the whole expedition depended upon this. Their journals reveal a deep interest and understanding of nature. (Even if Lewis did spell "Sioux" 27 different ways!)

After traveling for more than a year and a half, the expedition was in the vicinity of present-day Helena, Montana. Lewis wrote in his journal: "I saw a black woodpecker (or crow) today about the size of the lark woodpecker (yellow-shafted flicker) as black as a crow. I endevoured to get a shoot at it but could not. It is a distinct species of woodpecker; it has a long tail and flys a good deel like the jay bird." It really should not surprise us that he thought the woodpecker was black. Without binoculars and probably at some distance, the bird would, indeed, appear black.

However, on the return trip a successful "shoot" was made and Lewis again describes the woodpecker which would later bear his name: "The black woodpecker which I have frequently mentioned and which is found in most parts of the rocky Mountains as well as the Western and S.W. mountains, I had never an opportunity of examining until a few days since when we killed and preserved several of them. This bird is about the size of the lark woodpecker or the turtle dove, tho’ it’s wings are longer than either of those birds. The beak is black, one inch long, reather wide at the base, somewhat curved and sharply pointed, the chaps are of equal length. Around the base of the beak including the eye and a small part of the throat is of a fine crimson red." In spite of their daily responsibilities and exhausting trek, both Lewis and Clark managed to keep accurate and complete notes in their journals giving us an insight into the birds, animals, and plants they identified.

Both male and female Lewis’s Woodpeckers excavate the nest cavity, usually in dead or decaying trees, often in burned trees, and line the nest with wood chips. Nests are often reused the next year.

Usually 6 or 7 opaque white eggs are laid and incubated for 12 to 16 days. The female usually takes daytime duty and the male incubates at night. The young fledge between 28 to 34 days, but remain near the nest site for about 10 days begging the adults to bring them food, which consists mostly of insects. The adult call is a series of short, harsh "chr" notes. The drum is short, weak, and at a medium speed followed by several individual taps.

The Lewis’s Woodpecker is of high conservation importance, because of its rather small and patchy distribution. The estimated decline of this species since l966 is as much as 50 percent. The final cause or causes of the decline is unknown, but lack of snags left standing in logged or burned areas appears to be a factor. The increase of European Starlings in their nesting area may be a big reason for their decline, as the starlings take over the already excavated nest sites.

One of the best areas in Umatilla County to see Lewis’s Woodpeckers is the Tower Burn, which is reached by taking Soap Hill Road (which becomes USFS Road 52) south from Ukiah. After approximately 12 miles, take USFS Road 55 (aka Texas Bar Road) down through the burn area to the John Day River and out to Hwy 395, if desired. This road is not snow-plowed, so a good time to look for Lewis’s Woodpecker is after the snow has melted in May or early June. Check out blackened snags for their nests.

Bird Watcher’s Digest; Vol. 32 No 5, May/June 2010; "Clark’s Crow Lewis’s Woodpecker;" William B. Hughes; and

"Nidifugous" hatched from the Latin words "nidus," meaning "nest," and "fugere," meaning "to flee." Its contrasting word "nidicolous," meaning "reared for a time in a nest," combines "nidus" with the English combining form "-colous" ("living or growing in or on"). Another relevant term is "precocial." A precocial bird is capable of a high degree of independent activity as soon as it emerges from the egg. While all nidifugous birds are also necessarily precocial, some nidicolous birds are also precocial — that is, they are capable of leaving the nest soon after hatching, but instead they stick around. Other nidicolous birds are "altricial," which is to say they are hatched in a very immature and helpless condition and require care for some time.

During my two-week stay just out of Halfway at the end of July / beginning of August, I was delighted by Cedar Waxwings flying playfully after each other over the pond in front of the cabin, Rufous Hummingbirds menacing any Black-chinned Hummers that attempted to come to the feeder on the porch, and a young Red-tailed Hawk flying each day after its mother over the meadow continuously calling to her in the Red-tailed language, that piercing, descending Kee-eerrrrrr !

On my walks at the edge of the meadow along the creek and forest were Black-capped Chickadees, Lazuli Buntings, Gray Catbirds, Western Wood-Pewees, California Quail with young, Chipping Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Song Sparrows, a Red-Naped Sapsucker, and more!

Baker County’s local birders recommend several special sites for good bird viewing:

• Ponds east of Interstate 84: Best Frontage Road (access is Exit 302) attract birds, as do ponds on the west side of the freeway. You might see swans, geese, ducks, cormorants, gulls, grebes or loons, especially at sunrise.
• Highway 86: Sage thrashers around the Virtue Flat area (about five miles east of Baker City), and on down the canyon toward Richland might yield glimpses of orioles, yellow-breasted chats and warblers.
• Highway 7: Along the Powder River toward Sumpter, and around the ponds are warblers, kinglets, chickadees, nuthatches, bluebirds, and waterfowl.
• Valleys, including Baker, Keating, and Bowen: Sparrows, hawks, prairie falcons, harriers, golden and bald eagles (wintertime, mostly).

On the evening of July 18, Craig Kvern saw 3 adult Gray Partridges with about 18 chicks along Adams Road near its intersection with Thornhollow Road. The next day, I (Aaron Skirvin) spotted a group of 9 Turkey Vultures slowly soaring westerly over the Umatilla River near Jack Simons’ house, about 3 miles east of Pendleton. In prior years, Jack had noted a congregation of Turkey Vultures hanging around the river in his neighborhood for several days in late July to late August. The vultures were feasting on deer carcasses, which had succumbed to blue tongue disease. So far this summer, with no dead animals to feed on, the vultures have not lingered in the area.

I spotted a flock of 14 American White Pelicans flying over Mission Ponds on July 19. A few evenings prior, Jack Simons reported counting over 78 American White Pelicans in 3 groups flying westerly over his house, which is only a quarter mile from Mission Ponds.

While walking his dogs on July 20, Jack Simons found 4 fledgling Western Wood-Pewees along the Umatilla River near his home. Jack also noted a pair of vocalizing Eastern Kingbirds but hadn’t seen any young kingbirds. The day before, a Cedar Waxwing, carrying a twig in its beak (a sure sign of nest-building), flew by Jack’s house. A male Bullock’s Oriole stopped by to inspect the hummingbird feeder in Gerry Rowan’s yard near McKay Creek Elementary School in SW Pendleton on July 21.

Jack saw more fledged flycatchers in his neighborhood on July 23: a family of 5 Western Kingbirds and a family of 6 Eastern Kingbirds. On the 25^th, Jack reported seeing more young birds near his home, including a family of Western Wood-Pewees and a family of House Wrens. Marveling at the number of baby birds he’d seen around his home, Jack commented, "I don’t think I have ever seen as many young birds that have hatched in the river bottom as this year."

Joy and Steve Jaeger installed nine bird nest boxes on their property on Cabbage Hill. While checking the boxes on July 23, the Jaegers found nestling Tree and Violet-green Swallows nearly ready to fledge and a new Western Bluebird nest in their boxes. Joy further reported that on July 28 all of the boxes had evidence of nesting birds, including a couple of boxes that House Wrens had filled with twigs.

Neal Hinds had a good morning of birding at Cold Springs NWR on July 24, when he found 30 species of birds. His highlight of the morning was spotting a group of three Great Egrets perched in a snag at Memorial Marsh. It turns out that July is the month that we are least likely to see Great Egret in Umatilla County. Even during winter, two or three Great Egrets can be found in the Stanfield area, where at least one can often be seen wading in Stage Gulch Creek in the middle of town. It was only recently that Great Egret was first reported here in July, when Neal found one at Cold Springs NWR on July 1, 2008. It’s probably just a matter of time before Great Egret becomes a new, confirmed breeding species in Umatilla County.

Driving by Pendleton Community Park on July 25, I noticed several gulls on the lawn in the park, and one of the gulls looked larger than the others. I stopped to take a closer look and confirmed an adult California Gull in the group of Ring-billed Gulls. While Ring-billed Gulls are common in town, it’s noteworthy to find a California Gull in Pendleton.

By July 28, Jack Simons was beginning to have second thoughts about extending the "welcome mat" to the remarkable number of kingbirds around his home. Jack reported, "I walked out onto our deck and happened to look over at the raspberry bushes where I saw an Eastern Kingbird sitting on a high branch. I figured it was just waiting for a bug to wander by and ‘sure enough’ it dove into the raspberries and came out a few seconds later where it sat on the same branch. What was in its mouth? A juicy red raspberry which it managed to swallow! I didn’t know kingbirds ate berries but they apparently do."

The rarest bird reported this month and the entire year, so far, was a WHITE-WINGED DOVE observed by Neal Hinds at Cold Springs NWR on July 31. Neal saw several Mourning Doves perching on a snag and heard an unfamiliar call coming from the group. Surveying the group of doves through his binoculars, he discovered the White-winged Dove. After Neal observed the dove for a few minutes and while he was checking his field guide, all of the doves flew from their perches and disappeared. The normal geographic range of this species is the extreme southern US (Arizona to Florida) and south. Neal’s reported sighting is only the second record of White-winged Dove in Umatilla County; the first record was of one dove at Barbara and Andrew Clark’s feeder near McKay Dam on June 11, 2007.

Joy Jaeger reported that Townsend’s Solitaires had at least one successful nesting in the vicinity of their mountain property, which is located a few miles from Albee. Over the weekend of July 31/August 1, Joy saw and photographed two "polka-dotted," juvenile Townsend’s Solitaires as they foraged around the Jaeger’s cabin.

Every year, a few Black-chinned Hummingbirds spend the summer in Jack Simon’s neighborhood and visit the feeders in his yard. This year is no exception, and he has several Black-chins around his yard. However, on August 3, Jack noticed a different hummingbird at his feeders. Initially, he thought it might be a female Anna’s, but upon further observation he decided it was a female Rufous Hummingbird. Two days later, the female Rufous Hummingbird was still at Jack’s feeders, trying to assert its dominance over the Black-chinned Hummingbirds. It harassed the other hummers and chased "a bedraggled female B.-chinned into the ground where she took refuge in a foundation vent" of Jack’s house.

Continuing to keep track of the shorebirds at Cold Springs NWR, Neal Hinds added Solitary Sandpiper to the Umatilla County year bird list when he photographed two at Memorial Marsh on August 7. Other birds that Neal noted at Memorial Marsh included Western Sandpipers and a Black-crowned Night-Heron.

The bird-interaction dramas continued in Jack Simons’ yard through early August. This time, Jack saw at least 10 American Robins, mostly immature birds, fighting over the bird bath. Thus, we can conclude that not only did the flycatchers have a good nesting season, so did the robins in Jack’s neighborhood. On August 9, Jack noted that at least 8 hummingbirds were using his feeder, but he had no further reports of egregious assaults. Also on August 9, June and Duane Whitten had a male Rufous Hummingbird join the summer-resident Black-chinned Hummingbirds at the feeders in their SW Pendleton yard.

Apparently, some Red-breasted Nuthatches were dispersing/migrating by August 10, as I had one in my yard in SE Pendleton, which is poor habitat for nuthatches. About 6:30 on the evening of August 12, Connie Betts noticed three Common Nighthawks flying/foraging over her neighborhood in SW Pendleton, but by 7:30 pm, the number increased to at least 10 nighthawks.

Lynn Tompkins and her interns at the Blue Mountain Wildlife Center reported finding an adult Bald Eagle, an Osprey, and seven Turkey Vultures at Langdon Lake on August 13. A report of a Bald Eagle during the summer months in Umatilla County is a rare event, but in the past two or three years a few have been reported. With the remarkable increase in Bald Eagle numbers in the Pacific Northwest and nationwide over the past decade, we’re hopeful that in the near future the Bald Eagle will once again be listed as a breeding species in Umatilla County.

In our area, the fall shorebird migration extends from late June through October and into early November. Cold Springs Reservoir and McKay Reservoir are the best shorebirding spots. Because of the wet spring weather that lasted well into June this year, McKay Reservoir and Cold Springs Reservoir were still too full of water in July to provide shorebird habitat (mudflats). By mid-August, the water level in McKay Reservoir had dropped enough to expose some mud at the upper (south) end. Neal Hinds reports that Cold Springs Reservoir is even further behind schedule this year and won’t begin to show mudflats until late August. Taking advantage of the lowering water levels in McKay Reservoir, June Whitten and I birded the upper end of McKay Reservoir on the morning of August 15. We found a few dozen shorebirds, with most of them foraging within 25 to 100 feet from us. In all, there were 11 species:  Western (30), Least (4 or 5), Semipalmated (at least 4), Baird's (3), Solitary (1), and Spotted Sandpipers (2); both Yellowlegs (1 each); Long-billed Dowitcher (3); Semipalmated Plover (1); and Killdeer (10 or so). We also had good views of a juvenile and an adult Forster's Tern and one adult Common Tern.

After birding at McKay Reservoir on the 15^th, June and I headed to Pilot Rock, Vinson and Gurdane. In mid- to late August, the grassland habitat along the Gurdane Road can be heavy with sparrows. Along the highway between Pilot Rock and Vinson we saw a few noteworthy birds: one Sage Thrasher, a pair of Gray Partridges, one Loggerhead Shrike, and one Barn Owl. Vesper Sparrows can be especially abundant along the 24-mile Gurdane Road, and we decided to count them, starting at Vinson and ending at Hwy 395 about 17 miles south of Pilot Rock. Our total count was about 180 Vesper Sparrows, an impressive number, but a few years ago and a little later in August we tallied over 300 birds. In addition to the ubiquitous Vesper Sparrows, we found one adult Brewer's Sparrow, one juvenile Grasshopper Sparrow, another Loggerhead Shrike, two family groups of Gray Partridges, and one Gray Flycatcher along Webb Slough (1/4 mile from Hwy 395).

On August 16, Jack Simons spotted a Barn Owl hiding in a brushy thicket along the Umatilla River near his home. This is the first Barn Owl he has seen in his area in several years.

When I stepped out the door to head for work about 7 a.m. on August 18, I heard an Evening Grosbeak calling from some tall trees about a block away. This is the first time I’ve observed an Evening Grosbeak in Pendleton in the summer. We are more likely to find a few migrating grosbeaks in town in April/May and again in October, but in recent years the grosbeaks have been less reliable in the spring.

Fall migration is underway and that means many species will be leaving (Long-billed Curlews and most Cliff Swallows have already vacated Umatilla County); some will be arriving for the fall/winter (look for the first White-crowned Sparrows about September 1); and some will be passing through (warblers and shorebirds). Fall migration is a great time to look for birds, so spend some time birding and send all your sightings to Dave Herr at dsherr@mac.com or 541-276-6413.