Hi folks,

Yesterday, I did my annual Gonzo trip to eastern Washington to run the
"Keystone" Breeding Bird Survey route. The BBS is coordinated by the USGS
folks (more information on it at www.mp2-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/ ), and is a
roadside survey program. Each route is 25 miles long, with 3-minute point
counts conducted at half-mile intervals for a total of 50 point count stops.
All birds heard or seen within a quarter-mile radius of each stop are
recorded.... and, they don't want you 'pishing-up' birds (and, you just
KNOW there are cool birds hiding in the sagebrush that won't show
themselves!). These surveys begin 30 minutes before sunrise and take about
4 - 5 hours to complete. They use the BBS data to determine populations and
trends, and use thousands of volunteers to collect the data - kind of like
with the Christmas Bird Counts, only for 1/2 a day..... anyone interested
in participating in the BBS should contact the USGS or the Washington State
Coordinator:

Ed Miller
1920 Harris
Richland, WA 99352
509/372-3832
509/943-8538
edward_miller_ at rl.gov

Anyway, I really enjoy getting out into the sagebrush and wheatland to do
this point-count; I think my Willamette Valley background needs to get out
from under the trees and into the open country once in a while. The
Keystone in Adams County is the name of a depopulated railroad siding a
couple of miles west of Sprague Lake. My route begins at Cow Lake, 10 miles
east of Ritzville, and goes pretty much due north through the sagebrush,
cheatgrass, 'Mima Mounds', CRP and bunchgrass and wheat fields, crosses Crab
Creek and ends up in the Lords Creek Valley about 5-6 miles SE of
Harrington.

I usually count about 45-50 species on the counts, with any number of other
species seen - usually 20 seconds after the 3-minute beeper goes off! This
year, on 9 June 2001, I pulled out 1,055 birds of 47 species:

Pied-billed Grebe 1 at 1 stop
White Pelican 3 at 1 stop
Black-crowned Night Heron 2 at 1 stop
Canada Goose 16 at 1st stop - had many goslings with
them
Gadwall 10 at 2 stops
Mallard 2 at 2 stops - both hens...
Harrier 3 at 3 stops - all males
Swainson's Hawk 2 at 2 stops
Red-tailed Hawk 7 at 7 stops - including one on a nest
Ringnecked Pheasant 29 at 20 stops
American Coot 1 at 1 stop
Killdeer 6 at 5 stops
Spotted Sandpiper 2 at 2 stops
Long-billed Curlew 4 at 2 stops (I love their calls!!)
Ring-billed Gull 124 at 25 stops
Rock Dove 21 at 5 stops - grain elevators and
barns
Mourning Dove 9 at 4 stops
Common Nighthawk 5 at 5 stops
W Wood Pewee 2 at 2 stops
Willow Flycatcher 2 at 2 stops
Say's Phoebe 1 at 1 stop
W Kingbird 12 at 7 stops
E Kingbird 4 at 3 stops
Black-billed Magpie 4 at 3 stops
Crow 3 at 2 stops
Raven 6 at 2 stops
Horned Lark 143 at 42 stops
Violet-green Swallow 2 at 1 stop
Bank Swallow 29 at 2 stops (colony along Lords Creek)
Cliff Swallow 68 at 14 stops
Barn Swallow 11 at 6 stops
Rock Wren 1 at 1 stop
Robin 8 at 6 stops
Starling 36 at 7 stops
Brewer's Sparrow 5 at 3 stops
Vesper Sparrow 20 at 11 stops
Savannah Sparrow 74 at 31 stops
Grasshopper Sparrow 18 at 13 stops
Song Sparrow 4 at 3 stops
Red-winged Blackbird 29 at 11 stops
Western Meadowlark 146 at 42 stops
Yellow-headed Blackbird 99 at 4 stops
Brown-headed Cowbird 25 at 10 stops
Bullock's Oriole 2 at 1 stop
American Goldfinch 1 at 1 stop
House Sparrow 9 at 4 stops

This year, I was impressed with the lack of water away from the Creeks or
Cow Lake. Usually, there is water in a number of potholes and stock
watering ponds; most of these were dry. This really cut down on the
diversity of the duck species I'd usually see. A Swainson's Hawk nest that
had been occupied for the past 7 years was unoccupied this year. This is
the first year that I didn't see any California Gulls at one of the points -
all that I could identify were Ring-bills, although there were quite a few
Californias feeding at the bigger lakes. Quite a few Caspian Terns were
feeding at Cow Lake on Friday evening; they must have all been sleeping in
when the count began at 4:26am... Noticed that a fair amount of
Conservation Reserve Program grassland had been converted back to wheat
fields since I began the route in '94.

It was a great day, though; as I was driving out to Cow Lake from Ritzville,
the thunder clouds that dropped a bit of rain that night were fading off to
the eastern horizon and their flashes of lightening were blazing against the
brightening new day. Waiting for the 4:26 starting time, I listened to
coyotes greeting the dawn. I saw a few mule deer, ground squirrels, a
rabbit and a badger.

Finally, I'd like to pose a question: Does anyone know why, among all the
dry-side songbirds, the Horned Lark seems to be the only one to roost in the
middle of the back roads?

Best,

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net