----- Original Message -----
From: Ruth Sullivan
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu9
Sent: Saturday, April 22, 2000 7:24 PM
Subject: Northern Goshawk and Golden Eagle


Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded Thurston and Lewis Cos., with the best highlight of the day consisting of an adult GOLDEN EAGLE, just east of the Centralia Steam Plant, along Big Hanaford Rd. The bird flushed a nearby flock of waterfowl, then flew to the north. The other highlight of the day was an immature NORTHERN GOSHAWK at the Lacey Clearcut at 4pm, along the road into the clearcut, and north of the Olympia Cheese Factory. This the 4th encounter of this species, since last year, with an adult bird present in the SE corner of the clearcut on 3 occasions. It is NOT a species to be expected, but rather ran into in the field, with mostly fly-bys or occasionally perched birds.

We started at the Lacey Clearcut at 11am, where the weather was great with mostly sunny skies, but we had scattered rain showers, and moderate winds the remaining of the day. At this location, without doing to much walking were 10 CHIPPING SPARROWS, 2 CASSIN"S VIREOS, and a HERMIT THRUSH, as my mother searched for dragonflies, with all being CALIFORNIA DARNERS, with 8 present during our late morning visit. Next, we headed south, and east to the Centralia Steam Plant, where highlights included: 1 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER, 2 SORA, 8 GREATER YELLOWLEGS, 6 WESTERN SANDPIPERS, 2 LEAST SANDPIPERS, and 1 CINNAMON TEAL. A fairly large herd of 75 ELK were on a nearby hillside resting/grazing, visible from the road. We birded this area for over an hour, before we headed back north to Black Lake Meadows, where we were able to add 1 species to our personal location list: 1 TURKEY VULTURE, and surprisingly the only one of the day! A few highlights that were seen include: 1 GREATER YELLOWLEGS(fairly regular, when water levels are appropriate), 17 LEAST SANDPIPERS, and 7 N.ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS. We briefly checked East Bay area, where the partial albinistic male RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD was again noted, as it sang with the other male R.W.Blackbirds. I was surprised NOT to see any PURPLE MARTINS at nestbox sites at this location, since few recent sightings have been posted. On our way home we checked the Lacey Clearcut again, with only the NORTHERN GOSHAWK, being the highlight, as it is on most trips, since NOT too many of us see them that often.


Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net
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