Hi Tweeters! This is not an official SAS report, merely some observations by
an amateur participant. I am not a life list keeper or life counter but did
keep track of a few interesting sightings for my wife who could not
participate in the field trip. We left Spokane Saturday morning April 19th
at 7 a.m. and our leader Brian Miller took us to Reardan Pond, Sprague Lake,
and Cow Lake. We saw at least ten species of duck which I am too lazy to
list and which most people probably have seen before. I particularly enjoyed
seeing the following: BLACK NECKED STILT (first), AMERICAN AVOCET, SANDHILL
CRANES (very close), CASPIAN TERN, LONG BILLED CURLEW, WHITE PELICANS. I
also ejoyed the SAVANNAH SPARROW (first), VESPER SPARROW (first), the
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS (first positive i.d.) and the GREAT HORNED OWL in the
nest with two white, fluffy young. Since raptors put me into a rapture I was
pleased to see the many, many AMERICAN KESTRELS, many RED-TAILED HAWKS, many
NORTHERN HARRIERS, quite a few ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, and biggest thrill of all
for me: three SWAINSON'S the first a light morph, the second miles away a
dark morph with a higher flying mate too far to see well with my binocs. My
first SWAINSON'S that I know of for sure and will be able to I.D. in the
future thanks to Brian. A great trip in spite of frequent Spring (?)
showers.
Today, Sunday, April 20 at 1:30 p.m. I saw two TURKEY VULTURES pushing into a
strong wind in Spokane Valley heading in a NW direction. Hope I didn't break
any protocol or rules with my observations. (I read so many from the West
side of the state that I thought you should have the opportunity to hear a
report from the "other" side)
Hans Krauss, Spokane, WA hkrauss787 at aol.com