In Tweeters Digest 5/07/97, Bill & Nancy LaFramboise wrote:
>* Ferruginous Hawk: Try Horn Rapids Road in Richland along the power poles
(DeL pg 39, T10N R28E, Section 7) >

6/12/97 -- Boy! You were dead on the mark on this one. Beautiful light
morph bird perched up on the third metal high tension tower to the west of
the transformer station. The only one I saw all day. Also explored Webber
Canyon south of Kiona. Is that a FEHA nest up on the basaltic cliff face,
east side of the road, ~100-200 meters south of the
Dennis Road / Webber Canyon Road intersection? Looks like it to me. No FEHA
seen in the vicinity or on the nest, and in a second pass sometime later,
there was a pair of Common Ravens perched on the cliff edge above the nest.

That's an impressive Black-necked Stilt / American Avocet colony there along
Dodd Iowa Beef Road (1.5 miles off Rt. 12). Lots of chicks of both species
running around. However, this *is* the most evil foul smelling place I've
*ever* been in my life! "Iowa beef" it's not! I know... I'm from there!
The combination of sewage sludge on the north side of the road, the mass of
cattle on the south side and packing plant, the Wallula pulp mill just to the
south, and the incessant aerial crop spraying was quite a combinationary
experience to the senses. No White-faced Ibis (0.037% chance, I figured);
no Cattle Egret (1.68% chance), no Franklin's Gull (5.82% chance).

A Black-throated Sparrow was found at 1100hrs (6/12) *exactly* 0.6 miles
south on Wanapum Road from the end of the I-90 exit ramp (coming from
Seattle). Go south on Wanapum, just past the grove of trees on the left, and
the bird was on the NE facing slope in rocks and sage on the west side of the
road just before you crest the first hill. I was using the car as a rolling
blind, and the bird responded to tape playback -- sitting in the car with
walkman/megaphone setup perched on the roof through the sunroof. The bird
was absolutely stunning in the morning sun, perched in the sage and out in
the road beside the car.

Next stop: Green-tailed Towhee. Probably camping now, so no eminent posting
updates.

Richard Rowlett (posting from Walla Walla)
Bellevue, WA