Subject: Taneum-Dodson Rd Birdathon
Date: May 19 12:15:00 1997
From: Tracee Geernaert - Tracee at iphc.washington.edu



Tweeters;
Well we saw a grand total of 108 species from 5 am to 9:30pm and raised
close to $1000 yippee. We started at Taneum Creek then screamed on to
Umtanum Road on thru Yakima Canyon to Dodson road and back to Seattle.
The weather was clear on the east side but quite windy which didn't help
the birding by ear. We had a great day except for small patch of snow at
the top of Taneum Road. Suffice to say using a garden trowel to unstick a
car is slow going. Some great birds were a male Lazuli Bunting singing
less than 20 feet away, a female Blue Grouse at the top of Taneum Road,
and a pond full of Black-necked Stilt, Cinamon Teal, Redhead, Caspian and
Forester Terns and Spotted Sandpipers. We had a great "Duck Day" with 14
species. Blue-winged Teal and a female Canvasback were my first for the
year. Bluebirds were everywhere on Umtanum Road as well we had great
looks at Vesper Sparrow, Bullock's Oriole, Sage Thasher and heard
Brewer's Sparrow at several spots. We were also lucky enough to see a
couple pairs of Red-tail Hawks in courtship exchanging prey (bad luck for
the Gopher snake). The most most memorable stop was near Ellensburg on
the old Vantage highway. Kent yelled "Falcon" and we screeched to a stop.
Almost all at the same instant a Pergrine flies over, a Short-Eared Owl
lifts off the field and a Common Snipe was winnowing. Very cool Kodak
momment. Last bird was the rare Glaucous-winged Gull on the 520 bridge at
about 9:30pm.

Tracee Geernaert
tracee at iphc.washington.edu