2026 - WOS Conference

Grande Ronde River - Asotin County, WA

By mid-May, eastern Washington was impossibly green.  The rolling hills near Dayton looked more like Ireland than the dry side of the state I usually imagine.  Every corner seemed to hold singing sparrows, meadowlarks, and the possibility of something unexpected.

Earlier in the year, a friend/mentor - Tom Bancroft - the current President of the Washington Ornithological Society (WOS) asked my friend Steve and me to lead field trips at the WOS Annual Conference! You couldn’t imagine the feelings I had - honor, pride, anticipation, and… “can I actually do this?” We’ve led field trips with the Mountaineers and Birds Connect Seattle. WOS was a different ballgame - this would include some of the best birders in the state. It turns out - volunteering time to lead field trips does NOT mean you have to know everything about birds. The key thing is organizing and rallying people - and being enthusiastic. Well, I’ve got all those things, especially the enthusiasm.

Steve and I agreed to lead a field trip - so we chose the Grand Ronde Road which starts in far SE WA in Asotin County and travels a meandering road along the Grand Ronde River into Troy, OR. Steve did a scouting trip the week before the conference, for which I am forever grateful - as he discovered some great pullouts and places to bird. And, he discovered a jaw-dropping road up Cougar Creek way into the heart of the Washington section of the Blues.

Our field trip was really fun - and it seems all the participants had a great time. We were all really good birders - and everyone provided their contributions. We also studied geology and flowers and trees. Quite an incredible field trip.

We camped at Idaho’s Hell’s Gate State Park just outside Lewiston. The campground is a nice state park along the Snake River with spacious and sites that have some privacy. One evening at camp, Steve was astounded to find his neighboring campers had brought a “portable blacksmith shop” with anvil, hammer, and heat….and were banging up quite a storm fabricating some metal object (we never did find out what they made!). I’ve never seen that in a campground before!

Taking photos of the scenery along the Grand Ronde River - stunningly beautiful landscape

I also went on two other field trips - to Anatone Flats and to Whitman County highlights (Kamiak Butte and Steptoe Butte). Western Meadowlarks sang from fence posts while storm clouds drifted across the canola fields near Asotin. Red-tailed hawks soared in the skies. This was my first time birding the SE Corner of WA State - and with this trip, I have seen birds in all counties in WA which was a 2026 goal. Maybe the next goal can be thinking about getting 100 birds in each of the 39 counties? (Not in 2026, of course!).

In a blooming canola (rapeseed) field outside Asotin, WA

Calypso Orchid / Fairy Slipper - Steptoe Butte State Park