The RBA has these instructions for locating the Olympia Clay-colored Sparrow:

> go past the
> Thurston Co. landfill, to the Olympia Cheese Factory . Park at the cheese
> factory parking lot and enter the adjacent clear-cut, walk north on the
> dirt road for app. 200 meters to an area where considerable trash has
> been dumped. To the left, you will seeseveral standing thin fir trees
> out in the open. The sparrow was singing in this area.

Do _not_ park at the Cheese Factory lot--they would probably throw you
out. Continue past the factory and park at the side of the gravel road,
just before you enter the clearcut. (Some of us have driven into the
area, and no one seems to mind.) The thin fir trees are far away; don't
use them as a reference point. Look for a mound of bark and other woody
material next to an old motorcycle (yes, the place is full of trash) and
for the words "party animal" on the ground, from a license plate holder.
The sparrow has been seen quite irregularly from this mound, in the brush
perhaps 50-100 meters to the west, or by walking through the Scotch Broom
(it's quite sparse in places).

This clearcut is also interesting for Lazuli Buntings, also seen
irregularly. A fellow I met there a few days ago said he had seen a
_Nighthawk_ in the Clay-colored Sparrow area, and I wish he would post his
observations to Tweeters, because his description implied that it might be
nesting there. One of our party saw a Nighthawk there later, while two of
us were out beating the bush for the sparrow.

Burt Guttman guttmanb at elwha.evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College Voice: 360-866-6000, x. 6755
Olympia, WA 98505 FAX: 360-866-6794