Fellowe Tweets,

Yesterday 5 April I led the now-annual "Sandhill Crane Spectacular," a
Yakima Valley Audubon Society fieldtrip. The route begins in Kittitas, then
goes east to the Columbia via Schnebly Coulee, then Frenchman Coulee, then
Soap, Lenore, and Sun Lakes, finally onto the Waterville Plateau.

We tallied over 65 species, including the following highlights:

Common Loon-15 in their breeding finery, mostly on Blue Lake
*Red-necked Grebe-1* on Banks Lake, seen from the Dry Falls Dam
Tundra Swan-150, mostly on Atkins Lake
*Eurasian Wigeon-1* male on Lake Lenore
*Red-breasted Merganser-2* males on Banks Lake, seen from Dry Falls Dam
Turkey Vulture-4 migrating north along the Grand Coulee walls, a real
impressive sight!
Golden Eagle-3, all along cliffs of the Grand Coulee
Rough-legged Hawk-15! High for April? Most on the Waterville Plateau.
Prairie Falcon-1 in Frenchman Coullee, 1 over Atkins Lake.
*Black-necked Stilt-4*, Atkins Lake
White-throated Swift-20 Frenchman Coulee, 10 at Dry Falls.
Sage Thrasher-3, Quilomene WRA
Sage Sparrow-5, Quilomene WRA

What about Sandhill Cranes? We saw about 150 in all, mostly distant views.
But we were treated to close studies, including dancing antics in a small
flock of 14 birds which was a treat for all.

In the 7 or 8 years I've been doing this fieldtrip, always in early April,
this was the leanest for cranes. A possible explanation is the preceeding
weeks persistent northerly airflow, bringing cold Canadian air south over
all of eastern Washington. The cranes may well be bottled up along Crab
Creek 100 km to the south of the Waterville Plateau, waiting for a reverse
of winds to aid in their migration north. Denny Granstrand's count of
4-5,000 cranes along Crab Creek at the same time as our modest 150 on the
Waterville Plateau shows thats's where the birds were. I saw no evidence of
cranes migrating yesterday. If on the move, flocks are often noted moving
along or over the coulee walls, or their wild buglings heard high overhead.

When the winds change, I suspect some lucky observers will be treated to a
spectacular flight of Sandhill Cranes somewhere between Crab Creek and the
aterville Plateau!

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA