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


A delightfully sunny day with very few clouds and a light breeze.
The Ospreys I saw building a nest on top of a working rock crusher
when I was here last month apparently have been displaced; the nest
appears to have been move atop a nesting pole erected for the
Ospreys. However, the single Osprey I saw today seemed unsure about
using the relocated nest; a decision that was complicated a constant
hazing by a couple of Yellow-headed Blackbirds and a Northern
Harrier.

The muddy bottom of quarry pond which had been recently drained
provided a lively feeding spot for many Ring-billed Gulls,8 American
Avocets, a dozen Blue-winged Teal, and a multitude of cliff
swallows.

On a backwater slough off the Yakima river I saw a mallard-sized
white duck with brown mottling on it's back and chest, a dark bill,
and dark eyestripe swimming with 4 smaller, darker ducks. I can't
find anything in the books that looks similar. Although this duck was
quite a distance from the nearest houses, I wonder whether it was a
wild duck or an "escaped" domestic. I posted some below average
images at http://www.angelfire.com/wa/minkgi/unknownduck.html
I would appreaciate any comments.

Birds seen (in alphabetic order):

American Avocet 8
American Crow 6
American Kestrel 2
American Robin 4
Bank Swallow 7
Barn Swallow 3
Belted Kingfisher 1
Black-billed Magpie 8
Black-headed Grosbeak 4
Blue-winged Teal 12
Brown-headed Cowbird 10
Bullock's Oriole 3
California Quail 8
Cinnamon Teal 6
Cliff Swallow 100
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Kingbird 4
European Starling 25
Forster's Tern 2
Gadwall 2
Great Egret 1
House Finch 3
Killdeer 3
Least Sandpiper 1
Mallard 10
Mourning Dove 5
Northern Flicker 1
Northern Harrier 1
Osprey 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Red-winged Blackbird 15
Ring-billed Gull 25
Ring-necked Pheasant 3
Rock Dove 20
Song Sparrow 8
Western Kingbird 1
Yellow-headed Blackbird 6

Total number of species seen: 38