Desert canyon hosts birds, bighorns, occasional cougar

Umtanum Creek Recreation Area, Site 16 from "Sun & Sage Loop" of Audubon Washington's Great Washington State Birding Trail.

Location: Kittitas County, south of Ellensburg

Habitat: Bureau of Land Management / Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife site with 8 miles of canyon, talus slopes, meadow, creek, Yakima River, riparian shrubs.

Best seasons for birding: Year-round.

Birds commonly seen: Spring-summer, check cottonwood trees for Bullock's orioles and red-naped sapsuckers, blue elderberry bushes for spotted towhee, bare branches for lazuli buntings and yellow-breasted chats. Look for Eastern kingbirds before crossing bridge. Scan skies for golden eagles, prairie falcons, red-tailed hawks, and ever-wheeling violet-green and tree swallows. See bald eagles in winter. Year-round, find chukars, California quail, Northern flickers. Hear mourning doves, and rock and canyon wrens.

Viewing: Cross suspension bridge. Take path under railroad track. At Y, stay right, then follow any of myriad paths up 8-mile canyon. Bonuses: bighorn sheep, mule deer, possible cougar.

Getting there: From Highway 821 (Canyon Road) at Milepost 16.3, turn west onto gravel road. Drive 0.2 mile to parking. Fish and Wildlife parking permit required.

Source: Audubon Washington, Great Washington State Birding Trail maps.

To order maps (Cascade Loop, Coulee Corridor, Olympic Loop, Southwest Loop or Sun & Sage Loop), see the Web site www.wa.audubon.org. Details, call 866-922-4737.