I made a quickie-tickie trip over to eastern Washington Su-Mo 6/10-11 to
hopefully chase down WHITE-FACED IBIS and TRICOLORED BLACKBIRD. I kind of
just had to yank myself out of working every day all day for a week in the
yard and garden Sunday and just go -- no planning, no shower, no changing
clothes, no food, no nothing. Just round up and toss the bins, scope, boots,
and jacket in the car, and a cup of COFFEE for the road was all that was
required. Spur of the moment; no more excuses, GO NOW! NOW!! Jeeze; I can
fiddle-fart around so sometimes and the next thing I know it's July and I'm
out at sea again. The trip was a success on both fronts. One easy, one not
so easy.
--------------------------------

WHITE-FACED IBIS at Lake Kahlotus, Franklin Co. DeLorme p54, C-4) ---

Left Bellevue at 2:30pm Su6/10 and didn't stop until arriving at Lake
Kahlotus at 6:30pm. A little late maybe? Hardly. What a magnificent time
of day to be there. Late afternoon / evening sunlight was utterly superb.
The WHITE-FACED IBIS were found almost instantly. All total, there were 10
birds, scattered around in the shallow eastern third of the lake area mostly
along the shoreline and around the stands and clumps of bulrush. Very
obvious and impossible to miss by just scanning from a couple small gravel
pullouts on along rt.260 on the north side of the lake. The lower
fisherman's access road was fine too for closer look although a bit overgrown
and not surprising, thoroughly mosquito infested along the marshy fringes.

I explored and birded the area for three hours 'til dark at 9:30pm. The ibis
were quite settled and sedate but somewhat scattered until about 8pm. By
8pm, the ibis were all flocked together along the shallow southside shore.
At 8:15pm, six birds got up and started flying around back and forth and
circling the perimeter a few times. I first thought they were heading off to
roost, but they just kept circling, getting higher and higher until they were
well above the surrounding hills. I thought they were contemplating leaving
but then started coming back down during which time one broke ranks and
returned to the company of the others standing along the south shore. The
remaining five just kept circling around and flying back and forth for about
10 minutes, then finally settled to rejoin the five on the south shore.
About 10 minutes later, the same five were up in the air again and repeated
what seemed like a departure reconnaissance mission. Another flew off a
short distance and alighted in the middle of a stand of tule/cattails.
Nesting or roost site? But that one didn't stay long, and flew back to the
shoreline to join the others. After circling around for another 10 minutes,
and seemingly without the support of the entire flock, those five once again
returned and there all ten settled in along the shallow shoreline until it
was too dark to see them anymore. I wonder if they repeat this evening
ritual every day and will continue to do so until arriving at a full group
consensus to either leave or settle in and breed in Washington for the first
time if in fact they are doing so already as has been suggested. Certainly
those evening reconnaissance flights, if that's what they are, can't hold
much promise for an alternative 'watering hole' within visual range. Just a
quick glance at DeLorme shows that there aren't any that could possibly be
any better than Lake Kahlotus with the possible exception of the Snake River
and Lower Monumental Dam about five miles to the south and there may not be
much of an offering down there that a bunch of wayward ibises might like
anyway.

As Dennis Paulson noted in a posting last week (Tweeters 6/05), the somewhat
seasonally fluctuating Lake Kahlotus is rather like a mini-Malheur. Indeed.
An oasis out in the middle of vast arid range and cropland and rich with
water, shore, and marsh birds. American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts, and
Wilson's Phalaropes are plentiful. A large nesting aggregation of Eared
Grebes were concentrated in the northwest portion while American Coots abound
everywhere. Lake Kahlotus would seem like a good spot to peruse carefully
for something 'wildly different' like a Common Moorhen. Even the little town
of Kahlotus a mile west could be an interesting migrant trap / oasis and
provide shelter for migrant passerines including perhaps a few ...um,
interesting wayward ones.

Most interesting of the 16-species duck list included one pair of displaying
BUFFLEHEADS, several Wood Ducks, and perhaps more Blue-winged Teal here than
anywhere else I've been in the state. Evening brought out one Black-crowned
Night-Heron and a few Sora and Virginia Rails.
--------------------------------

TRICOLORED BLACKBIRD near Wilson Creek, Grant Co. DeLorme p69, A-8) ---

Up early and on the road from Moses Lake at 5am, I figured this would be an
easy one and following the oft repeated directions and went straight away to
the described overlook along road "22 NE" two miles east of rt28 east of
Wilson Creek (DeLorme p69, A-8, T22N, R30E, sect 10). Maybe I wouldn't even
have to get out of the car and I could be back home before noon? What could
go wrong? Everyone had seen them there; Ruth Sullivan reported 22m and 13f
back on April 11. Slam dunk. Ugh- um... well, such cockiness is not a
virtue. Maybe back in April when all those reports were being posted. I
don't think I've seen mention of the Tricolored Blackbirds in some six weeks
now. What's that mean? I hoped it meant that they were old news and
everyone who wanted to see them, did, and no one was bothering to report on
them anymore.

I pulled up onto the edge of the overlook looking down into the coulee
cattail marsh below and set up the scope on the window expecting to be
rewarded within seconds. Uh oh, nothing immediately promising and it was a
tad far even for a scope. Okay, so I will have to at least get out and set
up the tripod and I walked part way down the ridge to a more commanding
overlook of the coulee and Crab Creek valley. I repeatedly scanned
everything everywhere. I couldn't come up with anything other than
Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds, a few cowbirds, and one Virginia
Rail over and over and over that didn't seem to know the meaning of 'cover'.
The Red-wingeds were just far enough away that close scrutiny required full
zooming and I didn't really want to trek down into the coulee other than as
an absolute last resort. Each hopeful prospect repeatedly turned into a
Red-winged. With the distance, I couldn't get many good looks at bill shape.
Compounding the search were the male Red-wingeds with epaulets (lesser
coverts) if not molting, hidden just enough as to be barely discernible with
a 'fading' or worn yellowish median coverts which from the distance appeared
'almost' white; just enough to stir hopeful imagination but with persistence
only to be dashed every time when the bird fluffed or flew. Only the female
Red-wingeds looked 'normal' (duller brown) and there seemed to be few of
those ever visible at all. Maybe on the nest. With each Tricolored
prospect, I was hoping that a darker crisp looking female would join it to
give me some sense of assurance that I was on the right track. Never
happened.

My experience with Tricolored Blackbirds to date has always been in
California and I have *always* been impressed even way back as a beginner
birder 35 years ago when I was anticipating my first Tricolored Blackbirds as
something probably challenging or at least more subtle but was startled to
notice how neat, trim, crisp, and distinctive that species really is compared
to a Red-winged. If you ever have to struggle and try to turn a Red-winged
into a Tricolored, it's a Red-winged. A Tricolored Blackbird just leaps out
of the pack as something superficially similar but strikingly different.
Tricolored epaulets (lesser coverts) are dark crimson and often require a
conscious effort to see at all compared to seemingly larger or at least
'louder' Red-winged epaulets which tend bright red to reddish orange bordered
below by yellow or washed out yellow median coverts.

After 2 hours on the bluff overlooking the marsh, I was satisfied that I
wasn't likely to be convinced with a Tricolored Blackbird from there even if
there were some down there somewhere. I had to approach the area from
another vantage point, maybe along the railroad tracks on the north side of
Crab Creek. I made my way around to the opposite side via the little town of
Wilson Creek, then out along road "23 NE" which eventually 'ends' at a farm
complex but sort of continues a little further right along the somewhat
unnervingly busy railroad tracks (4 trains in two hours) until eventually
becoming a marginally dangerous (and probably illegal) track right along the
railroad tracks before ending all together at the Crab Creek railroad bridge.
This provided different views and perspective on the area but I still
detecting nothing convincing or promising. Five hours into the effort, I
finally threw up my hands, swore, and declared defeat. Tricolored Blackbirds
are notorious nomads. Maybe I was just too late; they'd come and gone and I
should have been here in April.

Then, just as I'd given up and all seemed lost; a miracle. I had just made
my way back along the railroad right-of-way to the private crossing at the
last and most eastern farm house on road "23NE" when a small flock (20 or so)
of mixed blackbirds, starlings, and cowbirds flew up from the barnyard lot.
In a most startling instant, one crisp unmistakable flying male TRICOLORED
leaped out of the mix. It was a vivid reaffirmation of my belief of what I
thought all along; if I'm trying too hard to make a Red-winged into a
Tricolored; it's a Red-winged. They all landed in a tree near the tracks but
only for a few seconds before tearing off again and landing in the paddocks
around the buildings. Very flighty, none of them stayed put in any one spot
for more than a few seconds but over the next 30 minutes or so and dodging
one more train, I still managed a cumulative batch of satisfying views. All
total, there were 5-8 Tricolored Blackbirds at that spot including 2-3 adult
males. Phew! Success and what a relief. It wasn't easy; nothing is a sure
bet and I should have never dismissed the Wilson Creek Tricolored Blackbirds
as 'as good as in the bag' before I even got there.

****************************************************
Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA, USA

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what
nobody has thought" --Albert Szent-Gyorgi (1893-1986).
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