Today 29 June I found 2 singing Grasshopper Sparrows SE of Ellensburg in
Badger Pocket. They were in T16N R20E NE. Take 4th Parallel Rd east to B
Clerf Rd, then south to Morrison Rd, then east to the canal. Across the
small canal is a field of tumble mustard/rabbitbrush/cheatgrass. The
Grasshopper Sparrows were singing from either the small patches of
rabbitbrush or tumble mustard. I was up hill in the Yakima Training Center
at the time, but I think these birds could be viewed from private lands in
Badger Pocket. In the mature sagebrush around the weedy patch were Sage,
Brewer's and Vesper Sparrows. In the irrigated fields just below the
Grasshopper Sparrow patch were scads of just fledged Savannah Sparrows.
Quite a mix!

Today was a great day for juvenile sparrows on the YTC. Hundreds were
flushed from roadside brush over the 25+ miles of gravel roads I drove:
Brewer's, Vesper and Sage mostly. It doesn't look like Lark Sparrows have
fledged or else they haven't started roving yet. But no Black-throated
Sparrows today despite a two-hour search along the Columbia.

Awesome numbers of recently fledged Sage Thrashers! Males still singing
their heads off - maybe for brood 2?

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA