hello tweets.

a very kind tweeter, jack stephens <Jsteph02 at sprynet.com>, allowed
me to tag along on his trip to the potholes in search of the very
tardy black terns, which we never did see today.

our trip, which was a sort of showcase of washington state's bad
weather, started out with some snowflakes dancing lightly in the
air as we crept cautiously through snoqualmie pass. the scene was so
enchanting that i forgot it is now supposed to be the merry month
of may, when flowers bloom and birds sing. keechalus lake, a lovely
portrait of greyish-blue-on-white, was bare of all visible life
forms, as usual (does anyone know why this is so?), and ravens
slipped silently through the snowflakes like raptorial ghosts.

when we reached cle elum, we started to see some birds, finally,
but the wind had picked up quite a bit, clearing the sky of birds
and clouds and allowing the sun to peek through. the most notable
birds seen near cle elum was a flock of eight American Pipit, and
a female American Kestrel sitting on a rock next to the roadway,
clutching the remains of a mouse in her right talons, bright red
blood glistening on her beak. we also spotted the first of six
Turkey Vultures that we saw today, and the first turkey vulture
that i have seen in 1999. these birds are really beautiful when
soaring in the sky, with the sunlight shimmering through their
silvery primaries.

after a quick stop in ellensburg, we continued on to the vantage/
wanapum rest stop/petrified forest area, where we got good looks
at a reclusive Brown Creeper and a vibrantly-colored male
Western Tanager (my first WETA of 1999!). a Sharp-shinned Hawk
soared over our heads while we watched the numerous Violet-green
Swallows riccochet in the gorge before us and zoom heavenward.
the lovely Audubon's Warblers were abundant in this area, as were
lustily singing White-crowned Sparrows (gambelii), House
Finches and Brown-headed Cowbirds. the omnipresent Western
Meadowlarks and California Quail were more difficult to spot
but worth the effort.

the winds, which were persistent and often cold, picked up strength
at this point, stirring up impressive dust storms and threatening
to blow birds, humans, and trees into the midwest. however, we
braved this storm and managed to see some nice birds along dodson
road in the frenchman hills area. the most notable of these birds
were the Black-necked Stilts feeding in and alongside the marshy
areas surrounding frenchman lake. also abundant were Redhead (40-50)
and Cinnamon Teal (25+), which were mixed in with six other species
of ducks. (Jack commented later that this was probably the largest
concentration of redhead that he'd ever seen.)a Sage Thrasher gave
us a good show by serenading us from a roadside post, while the
buttercup-yellow Yellow-headed Blackbirds quarrelled amongst
themselves, in their distinctive, choking, voices.

we then went to the potholes, where dust storms reduced roadway
visibility to fifty feet at times, and stung our eyes with sand
grains. we still managed to pick up a few more bird species
through our tears, including Western Kingbirds, a quickly-disappearing
sparrow (Lincoln's?) and a small group of California Gulls.
we also spied more Cinnamon Teal and saw a pair of Western Grebes.

overall, this was a very enjoyable trip, and jack was a wonderful
birding companion. in spite of the strong winds, which probably
blew most of "our" small bird species into the idaho panhandle,
we still managed to ID sixty species. our list follows, for
those who might be interested;

western grebe, potholes
pied-billed grebe, dodson road/frenchman hills and potholes
double-crested cormorant
great egret, 6+ at dodson road/frenchman hills
great blue heron
canada goose
mallard
gadwall
american green-winged teal
american wigeon, dodson road/frenchman hills
northern shoveler
blue-winged teal, 1 male at dodson road/frenchman hills
cinnamon teal, 25+ at dodson road/frenchman hills, also potholes
canvasback, dodson road/frenchman hills
redhead, 40-50 at dodson road/frenchman hills, also potholes
american coot
black-necked stilt, 20+ at dodson road/frenchman hills, also potholes
killdeer
ring-billed gull
california gull, potholes
caspian tern, petrified forest, dodson road/frenchman hills, potholes
turkey vulture, 6
northern harrier
sharp-shinned hawk, 1 at petrified forest
red-tailed hawk
osprey, nesting pair at ellensberg, one fly-over at indian joe hill
american kestrel
california quail, vantage/wanapum rest stop and petrified forest
rock dove
mourning dove
western kingbird, potholes
tree swallow
violet-green swallow
cliff swallow
barn swallow
steller's jay, indian joe hill
black-billed magpie
american crow
common raven
brown creeper, vantage/wanapum rest stop
marsh wren
ruby-crowned kinglet
american robin, ubiquitous
sage thrasher, 4 SW and dodson road
american pipit, 8 at cle elum
european starling, ubiquitous
yellow-rumped (audubon's) warbler, ubiquitous
spotted towhee, indian joe hill
savannah sparrow, cle elum
white-crowned (gambel's) sparrow, several hundreds
lincoln's sparrow (?), potholes
western meadowlark, ubiquitous and melodious
yellow-headed blackbird, dodson road/frenchman hills
red-winged blackbird, ubiquitous
brewer's blackbird, ubiquitous
brown-headed cowbird
western tanager, vantage/wanapum rest stop
house sparrow
american goldfinch
house finch

mammals;

yellow-bellied marmot, dodson road/frenchman hills, indian joe hill
muskrat, dodson road/frenchman hills, potholes

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/
<><><>Graduate School: it's not just a job, it's an indenture!<><><>