11/17 What’s Happening

Elections, film top fly-fishing meeting

The election of officers and a video on the aquatic life of the most commonly encountered insects associated with fly-fishing around local lakes and streams will be the highlights of tonight’s regular monthly meeting of the Yakima Fly Fishers Association.

The video is described as having some “spectacular” underwater photography. As always, the meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at Bert’s Pub, downstairs at Glenwood Square (5110 Tieton Drive., Yakima).

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CWU hosts Banff mountain film event

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour will hit Central Washington University next Monday.

The university’s Outdoor Pursuits and Rentals program is the host for the film event, which takes place at 7 p.m. Nov. 23 at the Student Union Theater. Admission is $8 for students/Rec Center members and $12 for all others.

CWU has become a regular stopping point for the popular film festival tour, which features a selection of inspiring, often thought-provoking action, environmental and adventure mountain films that were spotlighted at the prestigious festival in the Canadian mountain mecca that bears its name.

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BIRD ALERT

There was a report of a great egret, a long-legged, S-necked white bird about the size and shape of a great blue heron, was spotted in the wetland between Sarg Hubbard Park and Buchanan Lake.

At the nearby Arboretum, a sooty fox sparrow was seen, as well as a slate-colored fox sparrow; the latter is a sub-species of fox sparrow that breeds in Yakima County but is a rare wintering bird in Eastern Washington. A western screech-owl was napping in the cavity of a cottonwood tree and a brown creeper spotted spiraling upward, picking invertebrates from the bark with its curved and pointed bill.

Interesting birds observed along the Poppoff Trail this week included white-throated sparrow, evening grosbeak, cedar waxwing, hermit thrush, Bewick’s wren and the slate-colored subspecies of the dark-eyed junco.

Snow Mountain Ranch was the place to be this week if you wanted to see common bushtits. Among the smallest birds in North America, bushtits are a fairly rare find in Yakima County. Also noted at the ranch were western scrub jay, Steller’s jay, varied thrush and Lewis’s woodpecker.

A female prairie falcon flew through the intersection of Nob Hill and Fair Avenue laboring with a heavy load consisting of a rock pigeon. A few minutes later she was sitting atop a power pole, creating a blizzard of feathers as she ate the prey. A peregrine falcon was spotted coming from the east side of Interstate 82 heading toward the mall area at a very high rate of speed.

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

— Kerry L. Turley

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Around and About

CHRISTMAS TREES: Christmas tree permits are on sale for $5 each at the Naches and Cle Elum ranger stations, limited to two permits per family. Each permit allows a family to cut one tree (maximum height 15 feet) or dig a small live transplant tree.  Permits are non-refundable.

Private vendors include Eagle Rock Grocery, Whistlin’ Jacks Resort and Rimrock Grocery Store on State Route 410; Helms True Value Hardware and Save-On Foods in Selah; Oak Creek Ace Hardware and Slim’s Market in Naches; KOA Campground at Squaw Rock; and, in the Cle Elum Ranger District area, Roslyn Cyclery, Pioneer Coffee, Intermountain Radio Shack, Morning Star Chevron/Deli and Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce.

Christmas tree permits may be placed on the driver’s side dashboard in lieu of a Northwest Forest Pass when parking at a trailhead. At designated Sno-Parks, you must have a Sno-Park permit.

WINTER RECREATION NOTICES:  Signs posted at the Pinegrass and Little Naches areas will notify users that Forest Service roads may be closed to wheeled vehicles as early as December 1st if adequate snow depths allow for grooming snowmobile trails.  Pinegrass road system includes roads 1204, 1205 and 1241.

The Little Naches road system includes Road No. 1900, beginning at the junction with the Road No. 1904 (gravel pit) and Crow Creek Road No. 902.

In most cases, Sno-Park signs are also posted in these areas once grooming begins.

NON-MOTORIZED SNO-PARK PERMITS:  Many of the ranger stations on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest act as vendors for Discover Your Northwest (DYNW), a nonprofit organization that promotes public lands.  This year Washington State Parks and Recreation will sell their non-motorized Sno-Park permits through DYNW at a cost of $41 for an annual permit and $21 for a day permit.

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ON THE CALENDAR

TODAY: The Cascadians’ Tuesday group will meet at 8 a.m. at the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart parking lot and head out to whatever adventure the trip leader determines is appropriate for the weather and the snow conditions, whether a hike, a cross-country ski or snowshoe. Come prepared.

THURSDAY: The Cascadians’ Pokies group will do a trek of the Cowiche Canyon uplands. For meeting time and place, call trip leader Shara Wright at 457-5643.

SATURDAY, DEC. 12: This is just a way-out-there thing for the calendar of anyone who has wanted to get more active in the winter but isn’t quite up for downhill skiing. The relatively new and still little-known Yakima Nordic Skiing and Snowshoeing Council will host a cross-country ski and snowshoe jamboree on this date at the White Pass Nordic Area, with members of the council team newcomers (including kids) how to cross-country ski and snowshoe.