Fellow Tweets,

There has been an obliging Black-throated Sparrow south of Vantage on
Huntzinger Road, as reported on Tweeters recently. I'd like to add two
more. Yesterday on the Yakima Training Center, I heard two singing males
south of Sentinel Gap, within a few hundred yards of the Columbia River.
The habitat there is very sparse rigid sage, and scattered round-headed
buckwheats. There are few grasses; the ground surface is very "shaly."
Actually, it is composed of basaltic fragments, but gives the impression of
being very much like the desert habitats this species favors in the
southwest.

I continue to think it's amazing that a few Black-throated Sparrows
overshoot hundreds of miles of unsuitable habitat in north-central Oregon
and find wee bits of what appeals to them in Washington's Columbia Basin. I
observed an adult carrying food (presumably to young) in early July a few
years back and observed a young bird with a roving flock of Sage Sparrows
28 August 1994 on the nearby Wahluke Wildlife Area. To date, I don't
believe a nest has been found in Washington. Am I wrong on this account?

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato, WA