Tweets, On 12 Feb. at 0930 Debie Brown of Moxee, WA located 1, possibly 2
Rusty Blackbirds in a flock of 250 blackbirds & starlings at the "Moxee Bog"
at the south end of Birchfield Road, Se of Yakima. I checked the fen here -
which is a preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy - later on the 12th,
all the birds were gone. On the morning of the 13th, I birded this area for
1.5 hours and found:

Canada Goose-15
Mallard-20
American Wigeon-10
Red-tailed Hawk-1
California Quail-2
American Coot-1
Killdeer-5
Greater Yellowlegs-1
Common Snipe-2
B.b. Magpie-10
Am. Crow-5
Am. Robin-5
European Starling-250
Song Sparrow-1
Wh.-crw. Sparrow-6
Red-winged Blackbird-400
Yellow-headed Blackbird-1
Brewer's Blackbird-350
Brown-headed Cowbird-*60*
House Finch-2

The #'s of cowbirds is truly unprecedented for winter in sc WA - maybe 3-5,
but 60?! Oddly, males seemed in about = #'s to females. I could not locate
the Rusty Blackbird, but these blackbirds and starlings are rovers, so could
have easily missed it.

Thats the news from Wapato, where floods reign and getting across the valley
has become a challenge with numerous downed bridges and ripped out roadways.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA