>No Swainson's Hawks, but an unexpected number of Ferruginous Hawks. Local
>nesters? Non-breeders? Migrants? I don't know. Is anybody in Tweeterland
>willing to share their insight on Ferruginous Hawk status in this part of
>Washington (away from the well-documented Hanford Site and Franklin/Walla
>Walla County nesting sites)?
>
>Andy Stepniewski
>Wapato WA


Well, following in Andy's footsteps, I went to try to find one of my nemesis birds, the Ferruginous Hawk. I headed east on Route 24
from Moxie at about 10:00 this morning, on a beautiful sunny day with light winds. Temp was probably around 45-50. I stopped at
just about every mile marker for about 5 minutes, plus I stopped for every hawk I saw between mile markers. I found many Red-tails,
2-3 Rough-legged Hawks, 4 or 5 Northern Harrier, and a Kestrel. No Ferruginous Hawks, no Prairie Falcons.

I did get a great look at two Long-eared Owls in a row of pines right next to the road, I believe between mileposts 17 and 18. This
in in the yard immediately west of Andy's friend's house (he has taken field trips to her house). The nice thing about the house to
the west is that Long-eareds can be seen from the road with no trespassing or permission required.

Other highlights of the trip were:

1 Canyon Wren at the Umptanum Recreation Area of Canyon Rd. between Ellensburg and Yakima.

1 Loggerhead Shrike in Benton County, just SW of Vernita

1 Common Loon in the Columbia near Schwana (Grant Co.)

2 Say's Phoebe in Benton Co. just east of the Yakima Co. line on Route 24.

1 Sage Sparrow and 2 Chukkar about 2 miles south of Vantage on Wanapum Rd.

I still haven't seen a Ferruginous Hawk, but I drove 360 miles today, and I still managed to get home in time to mow the lawn before
cooking dinner.

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