Tweeters,

I spent one hour at the east end of Rimrock Lake in western Yakima County
late this afternoon (28 October) and counted the following birds apparently
attracted to spawned Kokanee Salmon. Many tens of thousands of this
land-locked salmonid live in this resevoir. October is the spawning period
for this small fish. There is evidently a heap of catchable biomass here, as
the mergansers, gulls, and eagles have been here for at least several weeks.

Annual drawdown makes for lots of exposed mud now;this makes the scene a
little bit of an ugly sight. However, birding is easy from along Hwy 12, and
it is a thrill to watch the mergansers and gulls in a feeding frenzy along
the inlet creek, attended by eagles cackling and swooping about.

Here's what I saw during this short trip, mainly scoping from a pullout on
the south side of the highway:

Common Loon - 1
Western Grebe - 5
Common Merganser - 250+
Bald Eagle - 4 adult, 1 sub adult, 4 immatures
Ring-billed Gull - 25
California Gull - 300
Herring Gull - 20
Thayer's Gull - 1 winter adult, 1+ 1st-yr.
Glaucous-winged Gull - 5

Nearby Clear Lake was great for waterfowl amidst a much more beautiful and
serene landscape:

Common Loon - 1
Great Blue Heron - 1
Canada Goose - 25
Green-winged Teal - 10
Mallard - 15
American Wigeon - 20
Ring-necked Duck - 30
Greater Scaup - 5
Lesser Scaup - 2+
Common Goldeneye - 1
Barrow's Goldeneye - 20

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA
steppie at nwinfo.net