Good morning:

On Wednesday Joyce Alonso and I had Veteran's Day off and headed out for
the area just west of Spokane. What a great birding day. Cold but sunny
with only an occasional light breeze (brrrr).

The hawks were everywhere. Throughout the whole day you could hardly go a
mile without seeing red-tails, rough-legged and northern harriers, even two
kestrals; adults, immatures, females, males.

We checked out the small stand of trees just east of Reardan to see if the
great horned owls, who have lived and bred there for years, were hanging
around. They were both there but one of them had a thin line of white
feathers that looked like a torque. Since it was backed up against the
trunk of the tree I couldn't see its back but in the front the white
feathers went from both sides of the base of the neck and met in the center
with a line about 5-6 inches long running straight down its breast. I
didn't know great horned owls ever had white markings.

Over at the Reardan ponds scads (a scientific term meaning lots and lots)
of ducks covered the ponds on both sides of the road. Among the golden-eyes
(sp?), buffleheads, pintails, coots, mallards, pied-bill grebe, american
widgeons, gadwalls and shovelers, we saw a Bonaparte's Gull - a lifer for
me! Hanging out on the bank was a small flock of canada geese.

Non-waterfowl included a marsh wren, red-winged blackbirds and, of course,
song sparrows everywhere in the marsh.

We hit Davenport Cemetery during a serious lull in bird activity. I've
never been there when it's been so quiet. We did see a brown creeper, a
raven and a couple of house finches and heard a rb nuthatch and some
chickadees.

As we wound our way around country roads near Mondovi we came upon a small
farm through which the road (Bald Ridge Rd.) passed. I was looking at the
farmer's sheep and peripherally saw a small flock of brown birds fly up
onto a wire fence. They just looked like sparrows or house finches from
that distance but, you know how it is when you're too far away to ID but
you know what you're seeing just doesn't look "right?" I yelled BIRDS and
Joyce whipped over to the side of the road. They turned out to be
gray-capped rosy finches! Yeah!!! Another life bird for me, and Joyce had
been looking for these little guys for a few years now, as their sightings
in this part of the state had been few and far between.

In Edwall we saw a small flock of Oregon juncos and a couple of red-shafted
northenr flickers but didn't bird seriously there. While meandering back to
Spokane we also saw a small flock of Huns and a large flock of horned
larks. Of course, we saw the ubiquitious house sparrows, rock doves,
starlings and magpies everywhere.

What was really surprising was the number of northern shrikes - 4 adults
and 2 juves at various spots along the road. A kingfisher in a small marshy
spot was a treat.

I had been complaining that we hadn't see a great blue heron on this trip
when, lo and behold, as we came around a curve, one was standing in a
plowed field not 10 feet from the road.

All in all, it was a great birding day.Two lifers for me...what great luck!

Regards, Joanne

Joanne Powell
jhpowell at snapwa.org
Reardan (Spokane) WA