This report was mailed for Gaylord Mink by http://birdnotes.net

Date: February 7, 2001
Location: Benton County, Washington

Low temperature: 25 degrees fahrenheit High temperature: 50 degrees fahrenheit
Wind direction: Variable
Prevailing wind speed: < 1 km/h gusting to: 1-5 km/h
Percentage of sky covered by clouds: 10%
Precipitation: none

The sunny, still day began with a 3 hr drive though NW Benton county
including 3 miles along the Yakima River and Chandler canal and 15
miles across Rattlesnake hills wheat land, some of which still had up
to 6" of snow. Of note was a large flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers
along the canal,an Osprey at the edge of the wheat land, and over 200
horned larks feeding on top of the crusted show.

After lunch a 4 hr drive across Horseheaven Hills wheat land and
along the Columbia River between Paterson, Wa and Crow Butte state
park. This included a stop at the Whitcomb unit of the Umatilla
National Wildlife Refuge where over a 5,000 Northern pintails were
resting on the slough as more than 10,000 Canada geese landed in a
nearby field to feed .

Birds seen (in alphabetic order):

American Coot 800 [1]
American Crow 18
American Kestrel 6
American Robin 15
American Wigeon 10
Belted Kingfisher 1
Black-billed Magpie 36
Brewer's Blackbird 300 [2]
California Quail 50
Canada Goose 10000 [3]
Common Merganser 25
Common Raven 2
Dark-eyed Junco 60
European Starling 1500 [4]
Gadwall 10
Great Blue Heron 18 [5]
Green-Winged Teal 60
Hooded Merganser 6
Horned Grebe 1
Horned Lark 250
House Sparrow 10
Killdeer 3
Mallard 700
Mourning Dove 4
Northern Flicker 3
Northern Harrier 5
Northern Pintail 5000
Osprey 1
Pied-billed Grebe 6
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Red-winged Blackbird 30
Ring-billed Gull 100
Rock Dove 60
Song Sparrow 3
Western Meadowlark 28
White-crowned Sparrow 50
Yellow-rumped Warbler 50 [6]

Footnotes:

[1] All located at Crow Butte
[2] Most at Crow Butte
[3] Most at Whitcomb Unit
[4] Most near cattle in Yakima Valley
[5] Two groups of eight birds each standing on shore.
[6] Flock appeared to contain both Audubon and Myrtle types.

Total number of species seen: 37