May 18-24, 2025

Although temperatures are still dropping into the low 40s or high 30s at night, the days are warming up and things are drying out.

Week in Review

As the valley begins to warm up and dry out, flowers are everywhere and all the animals are courting, nesting, laying eggs, and raising babies. There is so much going on, and I have so many photos, that I don't even know where to begin this week!

Among the many flowers, some standouts include bitterroots on dry, open hillsides and arnicas in shaded conifer forests. The bitterroots are tricksters because their rosettes of bright green, succulent leaves are conspicuous after the snow melts, but then their leaves dry up and they disappear, until a month later when their flowers appear out of nowhere.

Arnicas are related to the balsamroots that covered open hillsides earlier this spring, and arnicas are now creating the same kinds of flamboyant flower displays in forested areas a few weeks later.

In addition to flowers, birds are everywhere, and all of our migrants (except common nighthawks) have returned to the valley. In one day alone this week, I saw six species of birds for the first time this year and it's good to have everyone back!

Birds that arrived a month or two ago are well into their breeding season, but no birds are as far along as our resident great horned owls that started nesting in January or February. Their youngsters are already leaving nests and will begin hunting for themselves just as easily-captured baby birds and baby mammals are leaving their own nests for the first time.

Say's phoebes are the first songbirds that show up in the Valley in the spring, and because their babies grow more quickly than owls they are also getting ready to leave the nest.

One fun bird to watch for are the evening grosbeaks that make a brief, noisy stop at valley bird feeders. They showed up this week, and at least one neighbor reported having more than 10 at her feeder. Look quickly because they'll soon head for high elevation conifer forests where they spend the summer.

Least we forget the other animals, here is a shot of a beautiful wandering garter snake as a reminder of what else you might find on your adventures. Garter snakes are one of our most common snakes and they are readily found in habitats near rivers and lakes.

One of the more unusual sightings this week was an unearthed reptile nest. Many reptiles lay their eggs in the soil where they are often found and eaten by a wide range of predators. It's hard to say with certainty whose eggs these are, but they are probably turtle eggs.

Finally, this week I read about a new species of crayfish that was just discovered in the Omak area. While it hasn't been found in the Methow Valley, it's exciting that a new species has been found in Okanogan County and there's a chance that someone could find it in the Methow Valley if they started looking. How cool is that?!

Observation of the Week: Spotted Sandpiper

If you've spent any time walking along the Methow River, you've probaby been noticing spotted sandpipers. It seems like there's a bird every couple hundred yards and boy are they noisy right now!

These loud birds are almost certainly females because spotted sandpipers have a polyandrous breeding system that is highly unusual among birds. Females arrive first and begin calling and fighting each other as they establish territories and try to attract mates.

Successful females sequentially mate with up to four males, laying a separate batch of eggs with each male, then typically leaving him to incubate the eggs and raise the babies on his own.

Spotted sandpipers spend their entire lives on the sandy and rocky edges of water, including rivers and lakes in the summer and rocky seashores in the winter. Their nests are incredibly well hidden on the ground so if you encounter an agitated bird you are probably next to its nest so be extra careful and don't step on the babies or eggs.