Fellow Tweets,

It had to happen - rain! Companions Steve Pink, Jim Flinn and myself arrived
dutifully at dawn at upper Cold Creek southwest of Priest Rapids Dam - and
looked a monstrous, brooding, wet and windy storm right in the eye. Steve
commented this was the sort of weather one can find on the westside.
Occasionally it does rain in eastern Washington. Our efforts here with the
morning migrants were meager indeed. There were a few birds on the move,
even facing the stiff winds and rain, most notably robins, a few
Yellow-rumps, juncos and siskins. But the migration, which has been nothing
short of spectacular this fall along upper Cold Creek, was subdued indeed.

We mucked around Cold Creek Divide and Hog Ranch Butte and added raptors in
good numbers, but again in fewer numbers than in preceeding weeks. It seemed
there was no movement of raptors, just struggling birds trying to forage in
the inclement weather.

The weather, though still crummy, might change as I sensed a cold front was
passing through.

By and by it was afternoon and time for Plan B. How about trying the upper
N. Fork Squaw Cree/Hanson Creek Divide. Jim hadn't seen a Golden Eagle in
Washington, so those grasslands were another shot. Ta-daaa! Raptors galore.
An abrupt change of wind to the northwest after about 2 pm turned on the
raptor movement. An hour at this site (southeast of Badger Pocket which is
southeast of Ellensburg) yielded some exciting raptor watching. In an hour
we saw 5 Golden Eagles streaming south, a half-dozen Red-tailed Hawks, 12
Rough-legged Hawks, 3 Prairie Falcons along with the usual gob of harriers.

I feel I can safely state now - with my weekly Big Day's on the training
center since April, that the ridges bordering the Columbia on the training
center deserves the attention of the raptor aficionados. How many
individuals are passing through in a season. No doubt many thousands. Just
needs some folks to set up shop on the ridges and count 'em.

Here's the rainy day count for 12 October:

Green-winged Teal-1
American Wigeon-1
Northern Harrier-63
Sharp-shinned Hawk-11
Cooper's Hawk-3
[Northern Goshawk-1?], caused debate, but wingspan was exactly that of
accompanying harrier, but we saw these birds for only a couple seconds.
Red-tailed Hawk-31, declining definitely from past weeks.
Rough-legged Hawk-12, dramatically up from the first of fall a week ago.
Golden Eagle-5
American Kestrel-2
Prairie Falcon-4
Gray Partridge-8
Sage Grouse-2
California Quail-50
Killdeer-1
Great Horned Owl-1
Northern Flicker-1
Horned Lark-54
Tree Swallow-2
Black-billed Magpie-20, observed in the most open sagelands, indicating a
general dispersal from breeding season riparian areas.
Common Raven-57, many obviously migrating.
Golden-crowned Kinglet-8, a remnant of the numbers a few weeks ago.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet-13, ditto (I ain't a Limbaugian).
Mountain Bluebird-10
Townsend's Solitaire-2
Hermit Thrush-2
American Robin-156, the most obvious migrant in the hours after dawn.
Varied Thrush-2
Northern Shrike-5, including an adult closely followed by a very brown and
noisy (begging) immature.
European Starling-22
Yellow-rumped "Myrtle" Warbler-2
Yellow-rumped "Audubon's Warbler-1, yep, just one.
Spotted Towhee-1
Savannah Sparrow-8
Song Sparrow-2
White-crowned Sparrow-13
Dark-eyed Junco-18
Red-winged Blackbird-1
Cassin's Finch-2+, foraging on hawyhorn fruits.
House Finch-3
Pine Siskin-4
House Sparrow-1 at Range Central, 5 miles from other builldings, my first in
the middle of nowhere in WA!

That's the news fit to print.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA