I had the pleasure to take a visiting Pennsylvania family out birding
yesterday. We did as much of Kittitas, Yakima, and Grant counties as it is
really feasible to do in a day (Left Seattle 5:45 a.m. - back home to
Kirkland by midnight). Steve and his mother Shirley each added more than 30
life birds, so they were happy (if tired).

The best bird of the day was a gorgeous BLACK TERN at Dodson Rd X 7th SW.
At the same ponds was a pair of Wilson's Phalarope.

We had both Rock and Canyon Wrens calling along with the White-throated
Swifts at the big canyon at the George winery exit (Silica Rd).

The other highlight were large numbers of young birds of a variety of
species.

There were two fledged Great-horned Owls in the big trees just south of the
county line on Umtanum->Wenas Rd. There were numerous immature bluebirds
all along that road.

Along Dodson Rd., we saw the following babies:

Eared Grebe
Blue-winged Teal
Canvasback
Ruddy Duck
American Coot

A bit east of the Black Tern, we found the Burrowing Owl nest on the north
side of 7th SW - both adults, and 6 babies looking at us curiously. The new
orchard on the south side of the road destroyed last year's nesting site.

I have a question about the Eared Grebes. We saw three downy young grebes
at two ponds; no adults were visible. I presume these are Eared Grebe, but
I am uncertain how to tell juvenile Eared from Horned. They had faint
coloration in a pattern similar to adult basic (winter) plumage, but there
was not enough detail present to determine ID. The bill was large and pale,
and did not look like the adult bill of either species.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== MJCT_Hobbs at msn.com