Hi Tweeters. The day before yesterday I went birding with Ryan Shaw to
Eastern Washington. We had a great 12 and 1/2-hour day of birding, with clear
skies all-day and 85? temperatures.
We started the day with an intermediate morph SWAINSON'S HAWK (lifer) on a
telephone pole next to the road. Then I saw a BANK SWALLOW (lifer) flying
next to the road. At the Potholes Reservoir we saw many YELLOW-HEADED
BLACKBIRDS (year bird), making a lot of noise. That would have to be one of
my favorite sounds. Then a RING-NECKED PHEASANT was heard crowing. We saw a
BREWER'S SPARROW, many REDHEADS (state bird) and heard a SORA (lifer). Up
ahead in another pond we found 4 WILSON'S PHALAROPES (lifer), a pair of
copulating AMERICAN AVOCETS (lifer), and many BLACK-NECKED STILTS (state
bird). Near another pond we saw a few WESTERN KINGBIRDS (lifer), and I
finally saw a LEAST SANDPIPER (lifer). I don't know how I've missed them for
so long. I heard quite a few COMMON SNIPE doing courtship display, but never
saw one. On our way out I found an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER (year bird). We
were hoping it was an Ash-throated but we got good looks at the clean chest
and it even sung, "Quick, three beers..." once. At Quilomene Wildlife Area,
milepost 20 off Old Vantage Highway we heard and saw SAGE SPARROWS, BREWER'S
SPARROWS, and SAGE THRASHERS. Then we went to Vantage to try for a
Black-throated Sparrow. We waited a while, but didn't hear or see one. We did
see quite a few ROCK WRENS, though. On our way out, we found a fairly late
imm. COMMON LOON on the Columbia River. We then headed to Ginko State Park.
There we found VAUX'S and WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS, SAY'S PHOEBES feeding 4 very
cute little fledglings, a NASHVILLE WARBLER (lifer), a TOWNSEND'S WARBLER,
heard WILSON'S WARBLER, and a quite late probably migrant GOLDEN-CROWNED
SPARROW. Some ducks were out on the river, but were too far away to ID. While
driving we found a promising grove of Russian Olives. We heard a LAZULI
BUNTING (year bird) and eventually located the bird. He provided beautiful
looks. So we headed to the Umtanum Road. We drove up the road and immediately
found both WESTERN and MOUNTIAN BLUEBIRDS. We also found more SWAINSON'S
HAWKS; during the day we observed all three color morphs. Up the road a bit
farther we found a RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER (lifer #300!), and LEWIS'S WOODPECKERS
(lifer). Ryan heard a White-headed Woodpecker once, but I didn't and he never
heard it again. So we headed out and on our way out we found 2 TURKEY
VULTURES (for Diane) and 4 more LAZULI BUNTINGS. They have certainly arrived..
To end our day we went to Roslyn. There we found more NASHVILLE WARBLERS,
heard MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLERS (lifer), got beautiful views of CASSIN'S VIREOS
(lifer), a single TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE (year bird), and CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRDS
(lifer). Also 3 species of CHICKADEES. This really is a great place to bird.

Key: PR: Potholes Reservoir area, GSP: Ginko State Park area, UR: Umtanum
Road, SD: Sullivan Dam, CR: on the Columbia River, R: Roslyn

1. Common Loon - 1 CR
2. Pied-billed Grebe - 2 PR, PR
3. Double-crested Cormorant - 40+ PR
4. Black-crowned Night-heron - 3 PR, SD (ABA bird, year bird)
5. Great Egret - 4 PR, SD (State bird)
6. Great-blue Heron - 20+
7. Canada Goose - 35+
8. Mallard - 20+
9. Gadwall - 7 PR
10. Green-winged Teal - 5 PR
11. American Wigeon - 3 PR
12. Northern Pintail - 4
13. Northern Shoveler - 7 PR
14. Blue-winged Teal - 5 PR, SD (Year bird)
15. Cinnamon Teal - 3 PR, SD
16. Redhead - 40+ PR (State bird)
17. Ring-necked Duck - 2 PR
18. Lesser Scaup - 1 CR
19. Ruddy Duck - 3 PR
20. Turkey Vulture - 2 UR
21. Osprey - 1 seen from I-90 in nest
22. Red-tailed Hawk - 4 along roads
23. Swainson's Hawk - 7 PR, UR, along roads (Life bird)
24. American Kestrel - 3 UR, along road
25. Ring-necked Pheasant - 2 PR, UR
26. Sora - 1 heard PR (Life bird)
27. American Coot - 10 PR, etc.
28. Killdeer - 5 PR, etc.
29. American Avocet - 2 PR (Life bird)
30. Black-necked Stilt - 25+ PR (State bird)
31. Spotted Sandpiper - 1 PR (Year bird)
32. Long-billed Curlew - 5 PR
33. Least Sandpiper - 3 PR (Life bird finally)
34. Common Snipe - 5+ PR
35. Wilson's Phalarope - 3 PR (Life bird)
36. Ring-billed Gull - 30+ many areas
37. California Gull - 25+ many areas (Year bird)
38. Caspian Tern - 7 PR, SD
39. Forster's Tern - 9 PR (Life bird)
40. Rock Dove - 5+ SD
41. Mourning Dove - 6
42. Vaux's Swift - 13 GSP, over roads
43. White-throated Swift - 2 GSP
44. Rufous Hummingbird - 1 PR
45. Calliope Hummingbird - 3 R (Life bird)
46. Lewis's Woodpecker - 4 UR (Life bird)
47. Northern Flicker - 2 PR
48. Red-naped Sapsucker - 1 UR (Life bird #300 for me!)
49. Downy Woodpecker - 1 PR
50. Hairy Woodpecker - 1 UR
51. Hammond's Flycatcher - 1 R
52. Western Kingbird - 17 PR, many areas (Life bird)
53. Cassin's Vireo - 6 R (Life bird)
54. Steller's Jay - 2 UR
55. Black-billed Magpie - 30+ many areas
56. American Crow - many
57. Common Raven - many
58. Tree Swallow - 45+
59. Violet-green Swallow - 45+
60. Bank Swallow - 11 PR, SD (Life bird)
61. Cliff Swallow - 6 GSP
62. Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 4 SD
63. Barn Swallow - 20+
64. Black-capped Chickadee - 10+ R
65. Mountain Chickadee - 4 R
66. Chestnut-backed Chickadee - 15+ R
67. Bushtit - 1 R
68. Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2 R
69. House Wren - 1 UR
70. Winter Wren - 1 R
71. Rock Wren - 8 GSP
72. Marsh Wren - 5+ PR
73. Western Bluebird - 40+ UR
74. Mountain Bluebird 40+ UR
75. Townsend's Solitaire - 1 R (Year bird)
76. American Robin - many
77. Sage Thrasher - 13 along roads, etc.
78. European Starling - many
79. Orange-crowned Warbler - 3+ R
80. Nashville Warbler - 8 GSP, R (Life bird)
81. Yellow-rumped Warbler - 4 GSP
82. Townsend's Warbler - 1 GSP
83. Yellow Warbler - 2 UR
84. MacGillivray's Warbler - 5+ R (Life bird)
85. Wilson's Warbler - 1 GSP
86. Common Yellowthroat - 6 PR
87. Western Tanager - 3 R
88. Spotted Towhee - 5+
89. Chipping Sparrow - 4 UR, R
90. Brewer's Sparrow - 16 along roads, UR, PR
91. Sage Sparrow - 5+ along roads
92. Savannah Sparrow - 5+ PR, etc.
93. Song Sparrow - many
94. Vesper Sparrow - 1 along road
95. Golden-crowned Sparrow - 1 GSP
96. Dark-eyed Junco - 5+
97. Black-headed Grosbeak - 2 UR, R
98. Lazuli Bunting - 6 UR, along roads (State bird)
99. Western Meadowlark - 20+
100. Yellow-headed Blackbird - 20+ PR (Year bird)
101. Red-winged Blackbird - many PR
102. Brewer's Blackbird - many PR, etc.
103. Brown-headed Cowbird - 10+ PR, R, UR
104. Bullock's Oriole - 6 PR, R, UR, etc.
105. House Finch - many
106. Pine Sisken - 1 R
107. American Goldfinch - 3 UR, R
108. House Sparrow - many

All in all, it was a very nice day, and was great to finally pass the
300-lifer mark! Good Birding!

Visit my birding website at:
http://hometown.aol.com/birdking88/index.html

Birdking88 at aol.com
Charlie W. Wright
Sumner, WA
Age 11