After reading of sightings of huge fields of Sandhill Cranes I knew I needed
to find some for myself. We left the Seattle area around 5:30 a.m.

The first excitement was about 15 miles this side of Ellensburg when an
Osprey flew over the road clutching a large mass of nesting material. His
mate was visible on the nest on the north side of I-90 busily working. We
spotted 2 other Osprey nests with inhabitants along I-90.

A few miles to the east of Ellensburg we spotted an active Red Tailed Hawk
nest on the north side of the road - we could barely make out a head in the
very large nest and another Hawk was standing guard in the neighboring tree.
We spotted 2 other nests that appeared to be Red Tailed Hawk but they were
too far away to see if they had any hawks in them.

We also spotted a crow flying into a dense, large shrub right on the side of
the road and were just able to make out its nest inside of the shrub.

We spotted a single Common Loon on the Columbia as we crossed over the
bridge - it was on the west side of the river.

We turned south at the east end of the bridge to head towards Othello.

The first bird spotted after turning onto 26 was a Swainson's Hawk on a
telephone pole.

Then, 2 Kestrel Hawks, a few miles apart, on telephone poles above the road.


We turned south at Royal City towards Crab Creek Road and were immediately
rewarded with a falcon in a full dive to the west. We were unable to
identify the species but it was definitely a falcon.

Pairs of Doves were everywhere - on the telephone poles, the ground, rocks.
Meadowlarks were singing. It was unusual not to hear them out of the car
windows or when getting out to spot.

We turned down Crab Creek Road, the weather was slightly overcast.

A car coming towards us scared up a few dozen Sandhill Cranes in a field.
We pulled up alongside the field while they all settled back down and
counted approximately 120 birds. After enjoying them for awhile we
continued down the road.

We climbed a hill out of the valley and were immediately excited to see an
unusual but very beautiful quail type bird. We immediately looked in
Sibley's and were excited to see that it was a male Chukar! He was having a
discussion of some sorts with 2 females that were standing on rocks about 30
feet away from him. We watched them for awhile until they disappeared into
the sage. Very cool and a lifer for us! Just around the bend from them we
spotted one more Chukar.

A few miles further and we found a Shrike. We had very good looks at it for
about 15 minutes and tried and tried to figure out if it was a Loggerhead or
a Northern. The size of its head compared to the body length as well as the
very prominent hooked bill sure put it as a Northern Shrike but everyone
else's reports are saying Loggerhead. I'm kind of new to this bird
identifying world. How would I tell the difference? Just 20 feet away we
found a second Shrike posing for us on a sign and a third crossed the road
in front of us.

The rest of Crab Creek Road was full of Kestrels, Meadowlarks, and Doves as
well as a single male Pheasant right on the shoulder. He was decked out in
all of his finest breeding plumage. There was waterfowl, many kinds of
ducks, but I have to admit that I am TERRIBLE about identifying them. In
time I will get better........ Sorry!

>From Crab Creek we headed through Othello to Columbia NWR and drove up the
east side of it towards East Goose Lake.

We found a mated pair of Northern Harriers playing in the thermals of early
afternoon. The male was almost completely white and was beautiful.

Next was a large nest in a small opening in the cliffs. Closer inspection
with the scope revealed a pair of ravens in the nest.

Then, the shock of the day, someone please let me know how unusual or not
this is. We spotted a Snowy Egret in flight heading in a south westerly
direction. We jumped in the car and turned around to follow it, hoping to
see it land. It was making great time and we finally gave up trying to
follow when it became clear the bird was not going to land any time soon.
We got good initial looks at it and I can claim with certainty that it was a
Snowy Egret. Very cool and not at all expected!

We saw a lot of Kestrels throughout the day, including one on a telephone
line eating a recent catch. I didn't count them but we saw at least 15
throughout the day.

We finished the day with my husband doing some painting and me watching the
swallows catch bugs in mid-air. Things I wanted to see and didn't: Golden
Eagles and bluebirds. I wish I knew how to look for owls because I'm sure
they were around if I just knew how to find them!

Cathy Wise
Marysville, WA
cathy.wise at attws.com