James (my significant other) and I spent Sunday, March 1, 1998,
birding in Umatilla County, Oregon and Walla Walla County, Washington. We
started in Irrigon, Morrow County, Oregon at about 1100 PST. The weather
was overcast with occasional light showers and the wind was calm.

Irrigon, Morrow Co., Oregon: An adult BALD EAGLE roosts in trees near their
house every night during the winter. It was arrived around 1930 PST on Feb.
28 and had already left the tree when I got out of bed at 0730 PST on March
1. There were large flocks of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS and EUROPEAN STARLINGS
calling and singing in the neighborhood. When I was loading the car at 930
PST, a MERLIN buzzed through the large gathering of corvids, BLACK-BILLED
MAGPIES, AMERICAN CROW and COMMON RAVENS, in their back yard.

McNary Dam and Locks, Umatilla Co., Oregon: Very quiet. I only saw one
bird near the dam, an adult RING-BILLED GULL. The pond near the Columbia
River had only two pairs of BUFFLEHEADS.

McNary Beach, Umatilla Co., Oregon: On the way to the beach, we spotted two
male RING-NECKED PHEASANTS right next to the road. We arrived at the beach
at 1200 PST. There weren't very many birds in the area. A lone male WOOD
DUCK and four winter-plumaged EARED GREBES were the only birds on the river.
A few HERRING GULLS were flying around.

Sand Station Campground, Umatilla Co., Oregon: We arrived at 1217 PST. The
Columbia River was totally devoid of birds. A large flock of at least fifty
AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES were devouring the catkins on several trees in the
campground. I checked the flock closely for redpolls but there weren't any.

Along the Columbia River, Umatilla Co., OR: Still very quiet. I saw a
couple of ducks in flight but they weren't identifiable from the moving car
(and no place to stop). We did identify one male COMMON GOLDENEYE and four
COMMON MERGANSERS.

Columbia River, Walla Walla Co., WA: The only birds I observed were a
couple of COMMON RAVENS on the power poles along the river.

Madame Dorian Park, Walla Walla Co., WA: The southern stop (along U.S. 12,
just past the weight station, on the way to the town of Walla Walla) yielded
a bonanza of waterfowl. Amazingly, most of them were GREEN-WINGED TEALS
(about 200), just barely outnumbering MALLARDS (about 150). Other birds
were: NORTHERN PINTAILS (about fifty), AMERICAN WIGEON (about 40), KILLDEERS
(I only saw one but it sounded like there was more) and RING-BILLED GULLS
(seven). At the northern portion of the park, we walked down to the Walla
Walla River but we didn't see any birds (not even juncos). We didn't see
the flock of sparrows that have hosted several Harris' Sparrows and
White-throated Sparrows this winter.

Wallula Wildlife Management Area, Walla Walla Co., WA: Very similar in
composition to the pond at the park: MALLARDS, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, NORTHERN
PINTAIL, and AMERICAN WIGEON. There were large flock of AMERICAN ROBINS
near the pond.

Walla Walla River Delta, Walla Walla Co., WA: Several thousand waterfowl
were on the delta. The most numerous was NORTHERN PINTAILS, followed by
MALLARDS and CANADA GEESE. There were also a few AMERICAN WIGEON and
GREEN-WINGED TEALS. At least a hundred gulls were one of the more distant
mud flats; they were mostly RING-BILLED GULLS, CALIFORNIA GULLS and HERRING
GULLS. I didn't see any unusual gulls, but it was almost impossible for me
to identify the gulls because it was very smoggy (it smelled awful, too),
and my scope doesn't work very well in the haze (or maybe it is my eyes).
There was a flock of at least sixty SHOREBIRDS running around the mud flats
but I couldn't tell what species they were. I suspect they were Dunlins or
Western Sandpipers but I couldn't tell. There were also two immature BALD
EAGLES at the delta; one on a driftwood log in the middle of the delta and
one that flew across the delta and landed on a railroad signal.

Wallula "Poop Piles", Walla Walla Co., WA: The gull flock was there. It
was all RING-BILLED GULLS, CALIFORNIA GULLS, and HERRING GULLS. There were
at least two hundred gulls and only three were juveniles; they all appeared
to be HERRING GULLS. I didn't see any gull that looked out of the ordinary.
There was a large flock of over a hundred bird that looked like mostly
blackbirds with some smaller, brown birds mixed in. I never got a very
close look at them but I did positively identify several male RED-WINGED
BLACKBIRDS as they landed. The small brown birds looked too small to be
female Red-wings so I assumed they were HOUSE SPARROWS. Many of the male
blackbirds didn't show any red wing on the wing as they landed. However, I
couldn't determine if these were just Red-wings with the epaulets down or
Brewer's Blackbirds.

McNary National Wildlife Refuge, Walla Walla Co., WA: Our first stop was
the southern end of Burbank Slough. Thousands of CANADA GEESE were swimming
on the slough. I also found ten DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS diving in the
pond. There was also HOODED MERGANSERS (two males and four females),
AMERICAN COOTS, NORTHERN PINTAILS, MALLARDS, BUFFLEHEADS, and AMERICAN
WIGEON. In trees around the pond were several AMERICAN ROBINS, NORTHERN
FLICKER and an immature BALD EAGLE. Across the highway, there were fifty
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE mixed in with a large group of MALLARDS,
NORTHERN PINTAILS and CANADA GEESE (for more information on the
White0-fronts, see one of my previous posts). Between the northern and
southern pullouts for the slough, there was and adult and an immature BALD
EAGLES sharing a tree with about a hundred RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS. We then
continued on to the northern part of Burbank Slough behind the refuge
headquarters; we arrived at 1430 PST. Again, the number of waterfowl was
absolutely staggering. There were CANADA GEESE and MALLARDS as far as the
eye could see (with the help of binoculars). We were pleasantly surprised
when a GREAT BLUE HERON perched on the top of the cattails about ten meters
from us. It was an amazing site! It stood there for at least ten minutes
while we walked around looking at birds. The chorus around the marsh
included SONG SPARROWS, MARSH WRENS (first of year), RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS,
KILLDEERS, PIED-BILLED GREBES, and VIRGINIA RAILS. I noticed a couple of
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS in the cattails while I was trying to see the wrens.
NORTHERN SHOVELERS were very numerous on one part of the slough but not the
other. Other duck species included: LESSER SCAUP, NORTHERN PINTAILS,
CANVASBACKS, RING-NECKED DUCKS, one male COMMON GOLDENEYE and a pair of
RUDDY DUCKS (My first for the year). The male Ruddy was in breeding plumage
but I didn't see the blue bill. There were several DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS
mixed in with the waterfowl. Two RED-TAILED HAWKS were in the area.

Pasco to Pullman (actually Albion, but Pullman sounds better): The
RED-TAILED HAWKS are definitely in the mood for spring. I observed a pair
copulating and there were several that looked like they were fixing up their
old nests. I also observed several that looked like they were incubating
already! There were several ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS still hanging around. There
were several large flocks of BLACKBIRDS in Franklin County. I'm not sure
whether they were Red-wings or Brewer's. The day was topped off by a pale
rainbow over the Palouse at sunset.

Deb Beutler
Department of Zoology
P.O. Box 644236
Washington State Univerisity
Pullman, Whitman Co., WA
dbeutler at wsunix.wsu.edu