Tweets,

I spent 3 days last week (4/24-26) birding Central Washington. The one thing
that really surprised me was that while Sage Thrasher, and Brewer's and
Vesper Sparrows were present in normal numbers along Durr, Umtanum and Wenas
Roads, I heard only one Vesper Sparrow and neither heard nor saw any Sage
Thrashers or Brewers Sparrows on the Desert Wildlife Recreation Area, Lower
Crab Creek, Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, and the Seep Lakes areas. I
didn't cover the latter areas exhaustively, so it's possible they occur at
some locations there and I just missed them. However, I did bird a lot of
what would appear to be excellent habitat for these species. Anybody have
any information or thoughts on this?

Mark Johnston
Kent, WA