USA 2014 - Dry Falls State Park and Ohme Gardens

Thursday morning we decided we had to try and get out early again and walked around the Riverside State Park, following information from various sources about birding opportunities, but it was very quiet so somewhat disappointed we headed back to breakfast and then checked out ahead of our drive on to Wenatchee, our last stop off on the Washington State loop we were doing.

After driving through miles and miles of flat farmland, we stopped at Dry Falls State Park.  The park itself is part of what used to be a 10-mile stretch of waterfalls, the largest thus far known on Earth.  Now it is a series of canyons on the dry side of Washington Sate:

We headed down into the canyon to explore the Park:

Having snacked and drank some coffee we then split up to explore the park, I wandered through the trees towards the lake, seeing Cedar Waxwings:

Eastern Kingbirds:

Killdeer:

and Osprey:

as well as a brief view of a family of California Quail and others.  Hopping back in the car we travelled to the other end of the park, splitting up again, with one group taking the lakeside trail and Helen and I heading in to the drier part of the park:

We enjoyed the walk, seeing and hearing quite a lot, before reconvening at the car park, where we all got to see a male Bullock's Oriole in the trees:

From Dry Falls we drove to Wenatchee and, on arrival, to Ohme Gardens.  Unexpectedly it proved to be a series of sharp inclines and didn't suit my vertigo:

It's also fair to say the gardens are in a poor state of repair with many invasive plants left unmolested, we did enjoy our brief visit but probably wouldn't go back.

We did however get a cracking view of a singing Lazuli Bunting, here snapped in a brief moment between songs:

From Ohme gardens we headed to our hotel to check-in and rest-up ahead of another, not quite as good, Thai meal in town.