Well, I suppose I'm betraying my lack of observation skills, but I've
never seen so many varied thrushes in my entire life. They are all over
the U of Idaho campus, and they're just beautiful.

Of course, the fluffing-up that birds do at -15 degrees may have
something to do with their enhanced beauty....:-)

Last week, I saw a sharpie chase a sparrow through the air over the main
drag in Pullman. It was exciting. But, like that poem that somebody
posted not so long ago, I didn't know who to root for.

Over X-mas vacation, we went down south to California. If you wanna see
raptors, may I suggest the highway that goes through Oregon via Bend?
It's fantastic. Another good raptor place we visited was Highway 5 in
the Sacramento Valley. There are more red-shouldered hawks there than
there are black-billed magpies here (or at least it seemed that way!).
Speaking of magpies, we saw our first yellow-billed magpie in a flock of
Brewer's blackbirds and starlings.

If you go to the central coast of California, you MUST go to a place near
Santa Maria called Oso Flaco. It's listed in the California Wildlife
Viewing Guide available from Falcon Press. We saw an unbelievable amount
of waterfowl, including a feathery ton of pied-billed grebes. There is
an EXTREMELY active peregrine population there, and we were lucky enough
to be there the day a tufted duck showed up. They look goofier in
real-life than they do in the guides.

In December, I read a post from someone who went kayaking and found a
whole bunch of harlequin ducks. During our vacation, I went kayaking in
Morro Bay. I highly reccommend the experience. The birds are a lot more
comfortable with your presence, and you can get within an arm's length of
them without freaking them out. I "hung out" with a common loon for
about twenty minutes. It was the coolest thing that I've ever done while
birding. Morro Bay also has a ton of black brant this time of year. I
had previously only spotted one brant at (I think it's called) Padilla
Bay at the museum-thingie's blind, but it was so far off that it was
disappointing. In short, if you get a chance to kayak anywhere there are
seabirds, do it! It is absolutely worth it and not as dangerous as people
seem to think.

In the future, I hope to put some of the pelican and shorebird pictures
on the Palouse Birding Web Site. If someone else from the Palouse has
taken a birding trip, and would like to submit anecdotes and/or photos, they
are certainly welcome to do so.

-Pat
scott931 at uidaho.edu