hello tweets.

my partner and i went birding yesterday (sunday) in the othello
and yakima areas, and saw many species of birds, despite our
short time wandering through this area (we left for home at 230
pm because it started raining and we were just so tired after
crawling out of bed at 400 that morning!).

the highlights included; the migrating sandhill cranes that were
in the fields to the east of "B SW" and north of lower crab
creek road. i watched several thousand of them glide in over the
hills, and then as i watched them touch-down, i realized that the
fields were *grey* with them! and this flock stretched on and on
for perhaps a mile. a week or two ago, randy hill (i think it was)
had estimated this flock to be around 10,000 birds: well, they all
were present yesterday!

other highlights included the lovely american avocets, looking
like they were dressed in their finest evening wear, and the elegant
long-billed curlew. we also came eyeball-to-eyeball with an adult
chukar, who then disappeared into the sagebrush, along with an
unknown number of friends and relatives. and i cannot leave out
my childhood bird buddies, the western meadowlark, canyon wren
and rock wren, all of whom instilled in me an intense love of
birdsong -- surely the finest of music!

another highlight was the side-trip-almost-not-taken. we went
into the wahluke national wildlife refuge just to see what was
there. we drove down some well-maintained roads, and some other
roads that were not so well-maintained, and ended up on the
peak of one of the saddle mountains. the view to the south
was absolutely breathtaking: we could see the prairies, rivers
and wetlands, and the hills stretching on for almost forever,
until they were obscured by the distant smog over california.
my partner remarked that this is probably the best make-out place
within 100 miles.

a short distance away and looking to the north, was a small canyon
(valley?). i perched on the edge at a dizzying height and peered
over the edge at sheer red rock cliffs, the dry riverbed, and the
open prairie below. what a spectacle i saw! the canyon was
bursting with birdlife at its best. there was an amorous pair of
american kestrels defending their nesting territory from a raucous
prairie falcon that repeatedly dive-bombed them from above. every
time that the kestrels succeeded in chasing the falcon away, they
would return to their roosting rock and demonstrate their
affection for each other.

four ravens were also hanging around this canyon, although i
wasn't sure if they were looking for food or for a nest site.
the air was alive with the clear fluted melodies of western
meadowlarks, the descending whistles of canyon wrens, the
repeated churrs and buzzes of rock wrens, and the silvery sounds
of swainson's thrushes. in that single moment, i caught a brief
glimpse of what heaven must be like.

the trip was a success, despite our short time there. we drove
501 miles total, and after coming up with several different
numbers for my birdlist, i enlisted the help of my computer,
which says that we identified 68 species of birds. wow, and i
know i could have gotten more if i'd stayed two hours longer!

regards,

Deborah Wisti-Peterson email:nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~nyneve/
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