Yesterday I birded Washtucna, Kolotus Lake, Palouse Falls, Lyons Ferry and
the small town of Hooper with Steve Mlodinow, his wife Kasey, Bob Flores and
Bill Tweit. We had a most excellent day of birding with a fair number of
migrants in the VERY hot weather, sun beating down on us for most of the
day. Highlights:

Washtucna -
1 YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT
1 GRAY FLYCATCHER
1 SWAINSON'S THRUSH
1 HERMIT THRUSH
Many each of Bullock's Orioles, Lazuli Buntings, Cassin's Vireos, Warbling
Vireos, Wilson's Warblers...
1 Yellow-bellied Marmot

Kolotus Lake
15 WHITE-FACED IBIS with several birds displaying breeding behavior. If
breeding can be confirmed, this would represent a 1st breeding record of
WFIB in Washington.
4 LESSER SCAUP
4 AMERICAN WIGEON
8+ EARED GREBES - several building nests
among LOTS of Coots, Redhead, Ring-necked Ducks Wilson's Phalaropes....
1 COMMON YELLOWTHROAT - uncommon in the basin
1 YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT

Palouse Falls
Highlight was a PEREGRINE FALCON munching on a WHITE-THROATED SWIFT on the
canyon wall.
1 SWAINON'S THRUSH in the campground.
a few species of Swallowtail butterfly

Lyon's Ferry
The big highlight of course was the adult female MOURNING WARBLER that Bob
and Steve originally found before Bill and myself were called to the spot by
the duo to get a look.
It took about 30 minutes before the bird finally re-appeared and we were
able to get a look at it. We ended up watching it appear and dissapear off
and on for about 2 hours, hearing it call several times, distinctly
different chip note than MacGillivray's which we also had in the area for
comparison. Steve and Bill attempted several times to get video of this
potential 1st state record, but the undergrowth were the bird was skulking
about on the ground was dark and brambles thick in places. But we still
were able to all get nice binocular views of the bird as it worked the
undergrowth underneath a Russian Olive tree.
The bird was located on a peninsula across from the picnic area. Walk the
isthmus out until you get to some picnic tables, and the bird was hanging
out under the first large Russian Olive you come to.
Also in the area were several BEWICK'S WRENS, GRAY CATBIRDS..

Hooper
best birds were a few VAUX'S SWIFTS

Mammals:
Bill and I had a BADGER and Desert Chipmunk cross the road as we left
Washtucna in the evening heading home.
Good Birding!
Ryan Shaw
Lacey, WA
rtshaw80 at home.com