Marv Breece and I just returned from a many mile eastern Washington trip which began from Gold Bar at Friday night at midnight.
First we tried to get to the Lone Butte spot, but still snowed in. So on to Leahy Jct. where 4 Great Horned Owls were calling.
This was the pair which we saw last weekend and still on the nest while the mate tried to hide in the lower branches. Horned Larks
began singing when Greater Sage-Grouse weren't, that we could hear. We finally saw 2 males (Sage-Grouse) who were watching us and
sitting motionless until we left. It was super cold as usual. As we were leaving a small flock of Sandhill Cranes were heading
south probably for a better eating place.

Foster Creek didn't produce much as we continued onto Central Ferry Canyon where it was alive with lots of birds which included
Nutcrackers, Red Crossbills, Pygmy and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Cassin's Finches, a female Mt. Bluebird, and a drumming sapsucker.
We next tried for winter finches, and waxwings up around Pearrygin Lake State Park. No luck except for a few Tree Swallows. We
next found ourselves chasing after many drumming Williamson's Sapsucker up at Loup Loup and 1 Pileated Woodpecker. We headed east
to Sherman Pass and the old burn where only 1 Gray Jay was seen. The burn is too old for woodpeckers. We decided to head down Hwy.
25 and found a pair of Western Bluebirds near Rice and 2 flocks of Wild Turkeys. One flock must have had over 50 birds in it. One
last stop for the day was looking at a Barn Owl then to Cow Lake in Adams Co. where we camped out. Middle of the night got mighty
cold as there wasn't any cloud cover. Our sleeping bags were quite wet by morning and we were glad that clouds had moved in making
it much warmer in climbing out of our bags.

First place we hit Sunday morning was Palouse Falls State Park with no Grasshopper Sparrows yet, but 1 Savannah at the entrance to
the park. A large flock of House and Goldfinches with 1 Pine Siskin got us hoping for a late Redpoll, but no Redpoll anywhere. The
Tucannon River mouth area had many ducks and a half-mile up the hwy. was a small flock of Wild Turkeys. The Rosy-Finches must have
left during this past week as none were on the cliffs going to Little Goose Dam.

Blalock Pond near College Place had 2 Greater White-fronted Geese. We checked 9-mile Canyon hoping for Grasshopper Sparrows. Guess
they just aren't in yet as we had just checked the 2 spots where they usually show up first. Near the bottom of 9-mile Canyon was 1
Rock Wren and a small White-crowned Sparrow flock. Hatch Grade produced Chukars, no Loggerhead Shrikes, and a falling apart nest of
a Ferruginous Hawk from previous years. This nest has fallen clear out of the small tree before and the hawks still haven't figured
out how to make it more secure. Hwy 730 just west of Wallula Jct. yielded 1 Prairie Falcon where they nest and 2 Canyon Wrens
singing plus a high flying swallow most likely a Violet-green. We next arrived at the Mockingbird site in Richland, locked the car
and was planning on a massive search when Marv spotted it on top of the roof of the nearby house. Can't be any easier!

Frenchman Hills-Dodson Rd. ponds had 42 Tundra Swans resting. And heading north on I SW we spotted a couple of Vesper Sparrows in
the sage and grain fields. A rough count yielded 86+ species. Trips like this will only get better with more spring arrivals.

Ken Knittle, Gold Bar, WA
xenops at msn.com