Hi Jerry and Sandy,
You talking about sleeping in a parking lot. We left Tacoma at 11.45pm and
already starting looking at 5.00AM starting of with a pair of Barn Owls.
Only fanatic birders can drive themselfe to such extreme. We heared the
Indigo Bunting calling already at 5.20AM.I got my photos back and there are
ok,but never as our Pygmy Owl in Robinson Canyon.I got one realy good shoot
flying of where you realy can see the brown marking on this bird, so this
bird is not all an Adult.You came up with a good list of birds, we had
basicly all our birding right at the Ranch, Patrick finding the Gray
Catbird was as extra bonus. I believe he put six county birds on his list
for Benton Co.Speaking of the Article in the "TRI-CITY HEROLD" i kind of
was in shock to find out that Kristin mention my age,now every one knows
how old (or young )i am. When she interviewed me she ask my age, but i
never figured she mention it in the Article. It is a verry well written
Article and also a fairly good photo of this bird.Comming back to you
sightings The"Lesser Goldfinches"of eight is a verry good finding,there
are usual staying pretty much close to the Columbia Gorge. The Grandview
Sewage Pond's was closed ,there we could had some good Shorebirds.
Now i will tell you about our exitement comming home.
We stopped at the top of White Pass call PACIFIC TRAIL trailhead, we found
good birds there before. I was so tirednot sleeping for 29hours i stayed in
the Car. Patrick went and came back for the Dragonflie-Net. After a while
he came back again telling me that he catched one smal Dragonflie. I was
awaken at an instant, looking at this Dragonflie it looked like a'"
RED-WAISTED WHITEFACE" Leucorrhinia proxima only found in fife countys.I
found large colonys in Okanogan Co.when i went this year earlier there was
this emergen. When i got to this smal pond there where so many Mountain
Emeralds onother species what i din't see before. I realy was amazed over
Patrick try to catch Dragonflies. This hobby is catching on and before you
know you are going out looking for birds, but also looking for this
beautiful Dragonflies.(There can not be ignored). I will leaving tomorrow
for Pend Oreille Co.to find my last of the Emerald the "Ocellated Emerald"
This going to be an intersting trip with also some birding.
You have to watch out when birding and driving it was September 1991 around
Grayland for a Mongolien Plover. I was driving up and down the beach and as
i turned on the end my back of the car thurs the Ocean i was stuck and
could not move my car. The car was tilting already and the tide was slowly
coming in.An angel was with me that day, a man with a Jeep came to help me
and onother truck and there pulled me out of ttis wet Sand. How can i
forget this ever, i also never found this bird. To this day i will never
drive on Ocean Beaches. I am glad it turned out so you can drive home.
Ruth





.. I WAS STU

----------
> From: sanjer at televar.com
> To: Inland-nw-birders <inland-nw-birders at uidaho.edu>; tweeters
<tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Subject: West Richland and Beyond...
> Date: Monday, August 02, 1999 11:37 AM
>
> What started out to be a 300 mile birding trip turned out to
> be a
> 595 mile adventure. We left Friday night for West Richland and
>
> arrived about 10pm. We slept in a casino parking lot and got
> up early and were at the Indigo Bunting sight at 6am. Ruth and
>
> Patrick Sullivan were all ready there. There were several
> birders
> there. The local paper had a front page article Saturday
> morning
> with a picture of the bunting, location and phone numbers.
> The bird was there singing away. A lovely sight. Jerry got
> some
> photos and we anxious to see how they turned out.
> After spending some time enjoying the bunting and the other
> birders
> we had the pleasure of a guided tour of the area by Dennis
> Rockwell.
>
> By Madame Dorian Park we saw BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERON,
> WHITE PELICANS, CASPIAN TERNS, WOOD DUCKS, and
> MALLARDS.
>
> In a pond at mile marker 103 on Hwy 12 there were WILSON'S
> PHALAROPES, BLACK-NECKED STILTS, COMMON SNIPE,
> SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, LEAST, WESTERN and two
> SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS.
>
> We decided to head for Mary Hill Museum. Walking around the
> grounds
> there is always enjoyable. Just as a note of interest, they
> have some all white
> peacocks. We saw a LESSER GOLDFINCH, which was a new bird
> for our life list.
>
> After looking at the book "A Guide to Bird Finding in
> Washington" by Wahl
> and Paulson, we headed towards Bickleton to check out Rock
> Creek road.
> This was the best area of the trip. We turned off the
> Bickleton "highway" onto
> the Rock Creek road and drove five and one half miles south,
> turned around
> and drove back. We spent about three hours on the road viewing
> VESPER,
> LARK and CHIPPING SPARROWS, BLACK HEADED GROSBEAKS,
> WESTERN WOOD PEEWEES, ROCK WRENS, LAZULI BUNTINGS,
> and four ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS. There were also at least 8
> LESSER GOLDFINCHES near the Bridge at the Rosco Imrie Ranch.
>
> On our way out we heard a wren singing and stopped to
> investigate. They were right along side the road. After IDing
> them as BEWICK'S WRENS we listen to the CD and the song was
> not quite the same. While we were listening, we could hear the
> wrens
> and they started imitating the CD song. There were five of
> them. It appeared
> to be a pair and three young ones.
>
> We arrived in Bickleton (a town of 90 people) about 9pm. Jerry
> jokingly
> said "where is the city park". We found it! An old church
> building and a small
> gravel parking lot. So, we spent the night. It was very quiet.
> In the morning there were four dogs taking their morning
> stroll. In a kidding manner Jerry said "good morning dogs"
> expecting them to start barking. They didn't, instead they all
> walked over to the truck and got him to give each of them a
> few pats on the head and then they all continued on their
> morning stroll. As they strolled away I think I heard them
> saying......"it's about time we saw some new faces in town."
> :-))
>
> On our way home, we thought we would drive Lower Crab Creek.
> We were
> about three miles down the road and spotted a mostly yellow
> bird, larger than
> a Goldfinch, and pulled off to ID it. Not a good idea. The
> shoulders are blow
> sand with gravel over them. The truck and camper sunk in and
> we could not
> drive out. We tried digging down and putting boards under the
> tires, but we
> were stuck! Thanks to our cell phone and a towing company in
> Beverly, we
> were out and back on the road in about an hour. It was a fifty
> dollar bird and
> we never did ID it.
>
> Along Banks Lake on our way we saw alot of CANADA GEESE, an
> OSPREY,
> a CASPIAN TERN, a WESTERN GREBE and a RING-NECKED PHEASANT.
>
> Oh, I forgot, Friday night along Lake Lenore, on one of the
> islands, were about two
> hundred DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS.
>
> Seeing the INDIGO BUNTING was great and the whole trip turned
> out to be
> a memorable adventure.
>
>
> Sandy Converse
> Grand Coulee, WA
>
> http://members.tripod.com/nature_scenic_photos/
>
> Never be afraid to try something new.
> Remember, amateurs built the Ark and
> Professionals built the Titanic.
>