Tweeters,

I spent Friday on Fort Lewis. I wasn't birding but couldn't help but
get excited over the Vesper sparrows on Thirteenth Division Prairie. Also,
Western Meadowlarks and Western Bluebirds. I did not see Horned Larks
though they are supposed to be there.

For an eastern Washington birder, such a list of species is a major ho-hum
but not for me here on the wetside. But, of course, these birds are much more
special than those on the eastside. Some (a lot?) differentiation has
occurred as a result of these westside breeders being separated for thousands
of years from their eastside relatives. Both the Horned Lark and the Vesper
Sparrow west of the Cascades have been described as separate subspecies and
they are not terribly common subspecies as far as I know.

Fort Lewis is such a gem. I can't help but look out over its well-drained,
treeless, level prairies and imagine what would happen if the Department
of Defense ever decided it was surplus property, ripe for turning over to
entrepeneurial spirits.

Every since I heard of a supposed major decline in Western Meadowlarks in
Oregon, I have paid particular notice of Western Meadowlarks here in western
Washington: one in pastureland near the Black River, several at Glacial
Heritage County Park farther down on the Black River, one near Hawk's Prairie
restaurant in Lacey, and one on Thirteenth Division Prairie of Fort Lewis.
I am still wondering where the decline has been observed within Oregon.

Kelly McAllister
Olympia Washington