Hi Tweets,
We spent Saturday and Sunday on the road to see what new birds we could
find. Lots of traffic, lots of people and five "new" birds.

>From Grand Coulee we went south along the lakes and noticed more ducks
than we have seen in some time. Several WESTERN GREBES in Banks Lake
and MALLARDS by the hundreds. We were finally able to ID two CALIFORNIA
GULLS among several RING-BILL GULLS. Continuing south we went to Long
Lake, south of Pot Holes, to look for the Sabine's Gull, but did not
see it.

>From Othello we headed west on Hwy. 26 checking all the wet spots for
shore birds.
The area just past the Adams county line had a variety of birds. A
PECTORAL SANDPIPER was among the group.

We headed for Vantage and Wanapum State Park to see if we could find the
BLACKPOLL WARBLER. We meet the lady that lives in house where it had
been seen.
She could not believe all the people that been there to see this bird.
We went around the perimeter of the yard. Her son was playing in the
yard and scared the birds out into the sage brush where we were walking.
We saw the BLACKPOLL WARBLER!!, three SAGE THRASHERS, and a SPOTTED
TOWHEE.

We did not know there was going to be a concert at the "Gorge". People
everywhere.
So, we decided to go back across the river, south to Beverly and start
east along Crab Creek. It is a lovely area. We hope to go back in the
spring. In this area we saw RING-NECKED PHEASANT, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK,
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, WHITE CROWNED SPARROWS, ROCK WREN and EASTERN
KINGBIRDS.

We spent the night along Crab Creek. In the morning we went just past
Symrna and headed north. ( You may have noticed we did a little back
tracking.) Then east on hwy 26 to Dodson Road. At the intersection of
Dodson and Frenchman Hills we turned left and went about a half mile.
There is a parking lot and good view of a small pond. At this spot we
saw three BLACK-NECKED STILTS, YELLOW LEGS, SOLITARY SANDPIPER and the
ever present KILLER DEER. Closer to the intersection there were a
variety of passerines. There were GOLD FINCHES, MACGILLVRAY'S WARBLER,
and a flycatcher with its "vest" on---the OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER.

There are still GREAT EGRETS on Dodson road.
We hit the freeway and headed for Quincy sewage ponds and then went on
to the lakes south west of Quincy. These lakes produced DOWITCHERS, 18
COMMON SNIPE (all in on place), WILSON'S PHALAROPE, BANK SWALLOWS, and
an OSPREY.

It was very hot (90's), clear and calm. A nice weekend for birding, but
then what week-
end isn't!

We had 64 species and a great time.

Sandy and Jerry Converse
Grand Coulee, WA