[Birdtalk] Jordanelle

[Dave Hanscom]

After a morning of skiing at Daniels Summit, I stopped at the Jordanelle 
Wetlands to see what might have returned in this nice spring weather.  
Other than the song sparrows, which were numerous and very vocal, about 
the only birds of interest were the dippers in the river.  I think I heard 
a sandhill crane in the distance, but couldn't find it to get a positive 
identification (nor did I hear it again).  Part of the problem may be that 
there's very little water in the wetlands.  They've let most of the ponds 
dry up, and the few with water are still mostly frozen.

The totally surprising sighting of the day, however, was a Pine Grosbeak 
singing in the aspens and firs on top of Strawberry Ridge at about 10,000 
feet.  I didn't know they hung around in winter.  I suppose it might have 
been an early (and confused) migrant, but I'm quite sure of the ID.  I had 
my binoculars with me, tho I only got a brief look, and I listened to the 
tape when I got home to be sure I was remembering the song correctly.

Dave Hanscom