Climbing club group hit the routes today

The Yakima Climbing Club's meeting today will involve, appropriately, climbing.

Members and guests will meet at 5:30 p.m. today in the parking lot of Pacific River and Alpine Sports (315 W. Yakima Ave. in Yakima) and then carpool to a climbing area along Highway 12.

The destination will be determined at the meeting point.

Participants will need to bring their own equipment, especially helmet, shoes, harness, and a headlamp or flashlight. They will also need to bring cash to reimburse the carpool drivers. Also, snacks are encouraged.

Workshop teaches women outdoor skills

Women can learn the basics of fishing, hunting and other outdoor skills this September when Washington Outdoor Women holds its 11th annual weekend workshop, with some 20 classes on such skills as archery, basic fishing, fly fishing and tying, canoeing, kayaking, preparing fish and shellfish, big-game hunting basics, map and compass reading, wilderness first aid, survival skills, wildlife identification and outdoor photography.

The Sept. 12-14 event at Camp River Ranch in Carnation will feature 36 top-notch volunteer instructers, with some classes led by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) experts. The $225 fee covers lodging, meals and use of all necessary equipment. A limited number of partial scholarships, provided by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, are available for first-time participants.

For information and a registration form, go to www.washingtonoutdoorwomen.org or call Ronni McGlenn at 425-455-1986.

Bird Alert: Worthwhile trip to Hardy Canyon

Hardy Canyon seemed to be the place to be for birdwatchers last weekend. The highlight was a calling band-tailed pigeon found in an aspen stand. North America's largest pigeon, the band-tailed pigeon usually inhabits the coastal woodlands of the Pacific coast and is a very rare visitor to Yakima County.

Other birds of note at the canyon included at least three singing least flycatchers, a good number for this rare early summer visitor to our area. Also found were many of the other expected breeding species, including great horned owl, pacific-slope flycatcher, yellow-breasted chat, black-headed grosbeak, lazuli bunting, and Bullock's oriole. Beware, though, as two very impressive Pacific Rattlesnakes were spotted in Hardy Canyon.

There is still time to view both mountain and western bluebirds by visiting the Vredenburgh Bluebird Trail, which is a string of nest boxes beginning at the end of the pavement on North Wenas Road and extending some 13 miles to the intersection with Durr Road above Ellensburg. This year, seven House Wrens, a Mountain Chickadee, a White-breasted Nuthatch and three Tree Swallows are also nesting in the boxes. In the trail's 27-year history, almost 400 bluebirds fledge each year, with over 10,000 total fledged in that span. This week the bluebird trail also produced sightings of tree swallow, red crossbills and sage thrasher.

Other observations of interest include a peregrine falcon spotted flying over a house in the Nile, a least sandpiper at the waste-water ponds up the road from Fort Simcoe and two hybrid red-breasted/red-naped sapsuckers in the Ahtanum, a Eurasian Collared dove on a telephone wire along Wenas Road.

Please call your bird sightings into the Yakima Valley Audubon phone line at 248-1963

This week's correspondent:
Kerry L. Turley

AROUND AND ABOUT

COWLITZ KEEPERS: Under a new rule that went into effect Wednesday, anglers on the Cowlitz River (as well as the Kalama and Lewis rivers) may once again keep hatchery-reared chinook salmon they catch. The catch limit for steelhead was bumped to six hatchery steelhead per day on the Cowlitz and North Fork Lewis rivers.

HUNTING SEASON INPUT: The WDFW is seeking public input in shaping its state hunting seasons for 2009-11. Through July 13, WDFW will accept comments on issues ranging from general hunting hours to mule deer seasons. A questionnaire on those issues is posted at wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/seasonsetting/index.htm, and hunters can also suggest their own ideas for future hunting seasons. The WDFW will consider the recommendations in developing alternatives for its 2009-11 rules package.

ON THE CALENDAR

SATURDAY-SUNDAY: The Cascadians have hikes planned to McNeil on Saturday and Devils Slide on Sunday. For meeting time and place on either hike, call Maurine Peck at 453-4244.

TUESDAY: The Cascadians plan a hike to Granite Peak Lookout, an 8-miler with 3,800 feet of elevation gain. Participants meet at 7:30 a.m. at the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart parking lot and carpool to the trailhead.

WEDNESDAY: Mount Adams Cycling Club road cyclists have their weekly 25-mile loop ride to Naches beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Fred Meyer parking lot off 40th Avenue. For info: e-mail to anotherjones@earthlink.net

-- From staff and news service reports