Subject: bigger flocks of birds
Date: Dec 10 08:24:38 1998
From: randy_hill at mail.fws.gov - randy_hill at mail.fws.gov



Just a few sightings of concentrations higher than normal for our area
or time of year. Yesterday (12/10) at Scooteney Reservoir in N.
Franklin County, flock after flock of Dunlin went by, probably looking
for mud that wasn't frozen by our recent (finally) temperatures in the
20s. Probably 250-300 total in about an hour. Tuesday there were
about 1350 Common Mergansers on Moses Lake, a pretty high count at any
time of the year. I typically see a flock of 500-700 at Saddle
Mountain Lake near the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River in October,
and they are often actively feeding in one big flock, probably on
young of the year carp.

Randy Hill, Othello