Even though it wasn't a birding trip I did see a few birds. On Thurs. I stopped to check the potato ponds north of Othello. I saw
4 Pectoral Sandpipers, 14 Long-billed Dowitchers, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, and 3 Lesser Yellowlegs.

Friday I looked for the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher--no luck! At Hood Park there was 1 Golden-crowned Sparrow, 7 Orange-crowned Warblers,
1 late Caspian Tern. At the ponds along Hwy. 12 (part of McNary NWR) there was 100+ White-fronted Geese, 2 Common Terns, 1 Snow
Goose. Near Touchet there was 1 Osprey and 1 Merlin. At the Walla Walla River Delta there was 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Sanderling, 6
Black-bellied Plovers. A Northern Harrier was working the ducks over when it landed on a Green-winged Teal in shallow water. After
it drowned the teal it worked it up to the edge of the mud. Never seen this before. The ducks wouldn't move or fly during all of
this and the Peregrine was working the same flock while this was going on.

On Sat. stopped by Scootney Res. in northern Franklin Co. There was 16 White Pelicans, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, 8 Long-billed
Dowitchers, and wind.

Back on Fri. morning MerryLynn Denny and I had on Lewis Peak 1 Pileated Woodpecker, 1 Hermit Thrush, 1 Pine Siskin, Lots of
Kinglets, both species, and 2 birds that split on us that could have been Nutcrackers.

Soap Lake was pretty dead, 1 Merlin, 3 Barrow's Goldeneyes were to be expected.

Ken Knittle, Gold Bar
xenops at msn.com