Subject: Census Count: Byron Wildlife Area, Yakima County, Washington
Date: Sep 13 20:22:01 1999
From: gmink at bentonrea.com - gmink at bentonrea.com


This report was e-mailed for Gaylord Mink by a
robot at http://donb.photo.net/tweeterdom:

Today's count at Byron Ponds was interesting. For the first time in my 14
years of observations here the main series of ponds located within the wildlife
area were devoid of all water birds. No idea why as I was the first person of
the day to visit. However, one pond straddling the property line of the
Grandview sewage treatment land had over 100 mallards and a trio of unusual
ducks. One was a male mallard in full dress, unusual in the fact that all
other mallards in the area are still in eclipse. The second of the trio
appears to be a male Eurasian wigeon, the first I have ever seen in this area.
The mallard never let the widgeon get more than 1-2 body lengths away. The
third duck is unlike anything I have seen before. . In addition to appearance
they were unusual in another respect. Unlike all of the other birds on the
pond, these three birds did not fly when I walked by at less than 100 yards.
I put images of the three taken from video tape on my home page at
http://www.angelfire.com/wa/minkgi Feel free to comment on any or all of the
trio.

Birds seen:

Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) 2
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) 4
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 5
Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) 1
Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope) 1
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 100
Green-Winged Teal (Anas crecca) 4
Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) 2
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) 1
Merlin (Falco columbarius) 1
American Coot (Fulica americana) 3
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) 8
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) 1
Sanderling (Calidris alba) 10
Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus) 4
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 2
Black-billed Magpie (Pica pica) 14
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 50
Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia) 50
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 50
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) 3
Townsend's Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi) 1
Veery (Catharus fuscescens) 3
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 1
Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata) 10
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) 60
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 100
Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) 2