Hi Tweets --

Hope you all had a great July 4th holiday weekend. Me too! The Seattle
fireworks (Elliott Bay and Lake Union) viewed from Lakeview Blvd at Belmont
above I-5 were sensational! That *IS* the best place to take them both in
because it puts the Space Needle in perfect alignment and a clear close view
of Lake Union. Further enhanced with my being glued to my binoculars (Leica
10x40) mounted on my pole stick and plugged in to KING-FM on my Walkman as a
soundtrack, I was completely mesmerized!! No kidding!! The *BEST* ever!!!
Binoculars *aren't* just for birds!! Easy parking up on Broadway at 8pm,
walk to the site, then a most pleasant scenic walk back afterwards along
Melrose above I-5 (past my old apartment) and up the hill to Broadway. No
traffic and I was home in 20 minutes!

Earlier, I went off on 24 hour escapade chasing target birds (Ovenbird and
Yellow Rail) July 3-4, heading off first to Packwood early July 3rd, then
over to the Potholes near Othello / Moses Lake to poke around all afternoon
and night 'til midmorning on the 4th. Talk about a mixed bag of weather!!
Everything from repeated bouts of sun, clouds, hot, cold, rain, snow, hail,
lightning, thunder, wind, 'twisters', dust and sandstorms, calm, and
recycling off and on all day. I encountered a good snowstorm in progress up
on 5400' Chinook Pass (2 inches and coming down hard -- really looked and
felt like winter up there with the forest cloaked in a fresh veil of white
....on the 3rd of July!??!). Across the vast Hanford 'burn', scores of
towering dust devils raced down the totally scorched Rattlesnake Ridge and
across the blackened lunar plain as far as the eye could see. Pretty awesome
sight! That area will likely be in for some serious dust and sandstorms for
months to come since the recent wildfire left nothing but bare earth.

Didn't find any of my target birds, but it was a nice exploratory outing
anyway but perhaps a bit late in the season. But it was my last chance; now
or never, at least for this year.

No 'Ovenbird at Packwood.com' replied to my tape. I gave it an hour (7-8am) in
the grim cold conditions of pouring rain and no bird of any kind whatsoever
so much as uttered a peep. I considered myself lucky to see any birds at all
which was limited to three; one Blue Grouse, one Rufous Hummingbird, and a
dark shadowy glimpse of a MacGillivray's Warbler.

No 'Yellow.Rail at Potholes.com' either. Of course that was the longest of long
shots (you probably think I'm insane) for a bird virtually unknown in
Washington, and the main mission was not so much as finding a Yellow Rail,
rather exploring for potential habitat in the wake of the sensational Yellow
Rail experience in Oregon's Klamath marshes in early June. The constantly
changing weather provided all the ingrediants for a spectactular canvas of
changing mood and scenery. The intermittant brief bursts of showers kept the
dust settled and the sage invigoratingly fresh Few birds but made up in a
rich stimulation for the senses. There were few mosquitos and it was too
cold for rattlesnakes.

Suitable habitat for Yellow Rail in the Potholes area seems almost
nonexistent apart from possibly Herman Slough (site of one of Washington's
two records years ago) and a small area along '7 SW' west of Dodson Road.
There may be some other isolated sedge marshes in the Lower Crab Creek
drainage and Columbia NWR somewhere, but all in all, such spots are likely
too small and/or watered properly to support any Yellow Rail other than a
stray migrant or vagrant. That doesn't mean I'm giving up. For this year,
yes, but there are some other sites targeted for exploration in 2001. Conboy
Lake NWR (Klickitat Co.) is at the top of that list, thanks to Randy Hill's
suggestion a few weeks ago.

See ya! --Richard

****************************************************
Richard Rowlett (Pterodroma at aol.com)
47.59N, 122.13W
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA, USA

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what
nobody has thought" --Albert Szent-Gyorgi (1893-1986).
****************************************************