During 1998 we, Craig Corder & Judy Stevens, found 222 species in Benton
County WA. (Tri-Cities).
We birded 551 hours on 105 days. (Yes, we also work!) We drove 9,230 miles
in the county. We highlight the effort to show that our rare finds didn't
just happen. The county does not have a forest so mountain birds are hard.

Most of our rare birds were confirmed by other Birders. Unfortunately our
top two were not. One was a TENNESSEE WARBLER that we saw at close range Aug
16. The other was a "non-moving" HUTTON'S VIREO that we studied with a
scope for 6 minutes on Sept 5.


The rest of our top 30 (in order in our opinion) were:
BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER
CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER
BLACK SCOTER found by Bob Woodley
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK found by Tony Greager
AMERICAN REDSTART
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD
TRUMPTER SWAN found by Carl Higby
SWAMP SPARROW
SNOW BUNTING
PURPLE FINCH
MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE found by Dennis Rockwell
SABINES GULL found by MerryLynn Denny
GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH
GRAY FLYCATCHER
PACIFIC LOON
AMERICAN BITTERN
CATTLE EGRET found by Bob Gulley
NORTHERN GOSHAWK
ROSS' GOOSE
SAW-WHET OWL
PEREGRINE FALCON
TURKEY VULTURE (rare!)
AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER
FRANKLIN'S GULL
LEWIS' WOODPECKER found by Nancy LaFramboise
GRAY CATBIRD (we think we found a nesting location)
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT (only one)
HARRIS' SPARROW

We tried to cover all parts of the county each month. We didn't have access
to the Hanford reservation or the Arid Land Ecology area; except for a May
2 Audubon field trip which didn't turn up anything we didn't see elsewhere.
We didn't bird in the county from May 22 to June 14 because we were gone.

At least six other Birders concentrated on the county during 1998 so overall
coverage was no doubt a record. A total of 242 were found. Other Birders
found the following 20 birds that we missed.

Red-throated Loon, Green Heron, Oldsquaw, White-winged Scoter, Stilt
Sandpiper, Red Phalarope, Red-naped Sapsucker, Williamson's Sapsucker, Hairy
Woodpecker, Least Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Western Bluebird,
Mountain Bluebird, Swainson's Thrush, Red-eyed Vireo, Black-throated Gray
Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Black & White Warbler, Cassin's Finch, Evening
Grosbeak.

We had a great time!

Craig Corder & Judy Stevens
Hermiston, Oregon, USA
Umatilla County in north/central/eastern Oregon
ccorder at eoni.com