As I had posted earlier, we went to Portland last weekend to our sons
wedding. A three day affair. Had a great time and even got to squeeze in
some birding.

Friday--arrived at airport at 7:00 AM--rented a car and (THANKS to Harry
Nehls for the
very good directions ) went to the site on Gertz Rd. to see the
TRICOLORED
BLACKBIRD.

We first spotted the TRICOLORED BLACKBIRDS at a feeder in the back yard
of a
white house located on the NE side of the field, and then some on top
on the blackberry
brush. It was hard to keep track, but I think we saw five. There were
several COMMON
YELLOWTHROAT, SONG SPARROWS, and WHITE CROWNED SPARROWS. In the field
there is a wet area. There were several ducks, three LONG-BILLED
DOWITCHERS, fifteen WESTERN SANDPIPERS and two DUNLIN. We went back to
this site Sunday, on our way back to the airport, and the shorebirds and
ducks were gone.

We stayed at the Monarch Hotel in Gresham. To the South of the hotel is
a wooded area
that runs East and West. In this area (Sunday morning) we believe we saw
a
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD. Oh--Oh I will give a description in the next
post. We also saw, lots of YELLOW-RUMPED (AUDUBON'S) WARBLERS, WHITE
and GOLD-CROWNED SPARROWS, VESPER SPARROW, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, (a
tough one for us) and SCRUB JAYS. Total species for this small area was
sixteen, viewed just from the road.

On the way home we stopped at the Reardon Ponds(east of Spokane) and saw
two AVOCETS, and then another one flew in and landed right next to a
BLUE-WINGED TEAL. What a surprise! There was also CINNIMON TEAL, two
BLACK-NECKED STILTS, six GREATER
YELLOWLEGS, one SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, and one LEAST SANDPIPER by one of
the GREATER YELLOWLEGS--sure is alot smaller.

Got home at 9:00 PM Sunday very tired!

Jerry and Sandy Converse
Grand Coulee, WA