Tweeters,

Last night, I stopped by the Hwy 97 crossing over Dry Creek south of
Toppenish in Yakima County. There were 45 Turkey Vultures perched in about
five large cottonwoods. This was at 8 pm. In this drainage are numerous
small caves and clefts in the basalt cliffs lining the creek which might be
their nesting sites. I had no idea, however, that there were that many TV's
in that area, this count is certainly my all-time maximum count for Yakima
County. Another thought is there might be a large cow or horse kill nearby
(lots of both on the sadly overgrazed rangelands of the Yakama Indian
Reservation).

At 9:30 pm at the south end of Lateral A west of Toppenish, I counted ~100
Common Nighthawks hawking low over the large area of marsh there.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA