Tweeters,

Saturday March 13 saw about 35 keen birders raring to go out on the Yakima
Training Center at the absurdly early (4:15 am) but appointed meeting time
for the trip to view strutting Sage Grouse. All were on time, as duly
instructed, except the co leader (me).

Representing the US Army was Dale Leatherwood, consulting biologist for the
Yakima Training Center. We then caravaned out to the lek site southeast of
I-82's Exit 11, not far from Lmmuma (use to be Squaw, now politically
correct) Creek. Even before getting out of our vehicles, the plopping
sound made by male grouse could be heard off in the distance (done towards
the end of a display when the bird pulls its head into the neck,feathers
and completely inflates its esophygeal pouches or air sacs. The release of
air from these pouches makes a plopping sound (Hays, D.W., M.J. Tirhi, and
D.W. Stinson.1998. Washington State status report for the sage grouse.
Wash. Dept. Fish and Wildlife, Olympia. 62 pp.).

Thankfully it was a pretty calm morning and not at all cold (~40 degrees
F). The grouse put on a fine display. As is customary, observers want to
count the birds. It seemed everyone who counted came up with a different
total, as is also usual. Of course, this is not to imply birders have
trouble counting to 15; but perhaps reflects the constant movement of birds
as they dance in and out of view on the lek site.

Regardless of the count, I think most of us there were really thrilled to
get excellent views of the birds doing their thing, a spectacular yet
ritualized courtship dance designed to defend their position on the lek and
attract females.

We also reflected on the plight of this state-threatened species which
survives in only two populations in Washington: one on the mostly private
and marginal (much of which is now thankfully enrolled in the Conservation
Reserve Program) farmlands on the Waterville Plateau in Douglas County
(~600 birds) and this one on the Yakima Training Center (~350 individuals)
in Kittitas and Yakima Counties.

Just before we were about to depart, a dark morph Buteo (concensus was a
Rough-legged Hawk) flew from the south towards the lek at about 100'
altitude. Right over the lek it performed an impressive twisting dive on a
male Sage Grouse, flushing it. As the grouse sped south like a torpedo low
over the sagelands, the hawk continued its northward flight. I quickly
assessed the reaction of the other males on the lek-none flushed and within
10 seconds, it appeared as if nothing threatening had occured at all; all
the males were again displaying. I thought it unusual a vole specialist
like the Rough-leg would tackle a male Sage Grouse. Perhaps the sight of a
displaying grouse was simply just too tempting to the hawk and, like the
Northern Harrier which frequently seems to be tackling inappropriate prey,
employed the strategy "nothing ventured, nothing gained."

After breakfast in Yakima, we birded east of Yakima in the Black Rock
Valley, stopping en route to get fleeting views of a Blue Jay which has
spent the winter at a feeder east of Moxee. We observed a number of
Northern Harriers, Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawks in the Black Rock
Valley, hoping especially to spot a Ferruginous Hawk, now virtually
extirpated in Yakima County (down from 6-7 pairs in 1985). We were not
lucky in this regard, but were treated to a perched Prairie Falcon near
Vernita.

On the Saddle Mountain NWR, Long-eared Owl and Sage Sparrow were seen, but
several transient American Tree Sparrows in the Big Sagebrush were the most
unusual sighting at this spot.

Finally, at the White Bluffs in the heart of the 51-mile free-flowing
stretch of the Columbia River on the Hanford Reach, a nice variety of
waterbirds and other species were seen from the spectacular vantage there:

Horned Grebe - 1
American White Pelican - 2
Double-crested Cormorant - 3
Great Blue Heron - ~6
Canada Goose - 50
Mallard - 50
Northern Pintail - 10
American Wigeon - 5
Common Goldeneye - 10
Barrow's Goldeneye - 2
Common Merganser - 2
American Coot - 10
Sandhill Crane - 10 overhead flying north to join the ranks of thousands
more awaiting all you birdwatchers at the Othello Crane Festival 27-28
March!
Herring Gull - 2
Horned Lark - 10
Swallows - 0, I was surprised by the total lack of these birds which are
usually easily seen migrants along the Columbia by mid-March
Western Meadowlark - conspicuous by their song

I gave a short speel to the group on the precarious stability of the White
Bluffs. With any increase in subsurface water in sediments uphill from the
bluffs, sloughing and collapse of the cliffs into the Columbia has taken
place (witness the area of the bluffs north of Richland). There is only one
short section remaining intact, coincidentially in the only area with no
irrigated agriculture behind the cliffs. And that section has thus far been
spared because it is in the Saddle Mountain NWR and the Wahluke Wildlife
Areas. County Commisioners in the area (Franklin, Benton, Adams, and Grant)
are all aggressive supporters of Representative Doc Hastings push to
transfer these 90,000 acres of the Hanford Reach to local control, which
will likely result in irrigation of these lands and predictably collapse of
the White Bluffs as they slough into the Columbia at the precise area of
the reach where thousands of Chinook Salmon spawn. Of interest, Doc
Hastings last week called for a study to be undertaken by the National
Academy of Science to "impartially" assess the risks to the White Bluffs.
We need to remind Doc this has already been done (Schuster, R. L. and W.H.
Hays. 1984. Irrigation induced landslides in soft rocks and sediments along
the Columbia River, south-central Washington State, U.S.A. IV International
Symposium on Landslides, Toronto 1984. Proceedings, Vol. 1 pp. 431-436.).

Then it was homeward, most of us pretty exhausted by early evening.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA