Hey Tweets & INBirders,
Ryan Shaw and I decided to look for the grackle and do some other birding
in eastern Washington today. We got to the grackle spot on Birchfield Rd at
about 8:30 AM and after a 10 minute wait next to the horse/llama corral, we
spotted the COMMON GRACKLE flying around with a small flock of Brewer's
Blackbirds. Satisfied with a breif look, we spent the rest of the day
wandering around backroads with no goal in particular. We first stopped at
the Yakima Sportsmen's Park, where the usual 25-30 Wood Ducks were seen.
There were also good numbers of WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS in the Yakima area.

We then headed towards Othello. Our only stop on the way was at a rest stop
on the Columbia River north of Riverland in Benton County. There I had 100+
N. Rough-winged Swallows, 50 Tree Swallows, several CLIFF SWALLOWS, and at
least 5 BANK SWALLOWS. A bit later we found ourselves watching numerous
BLACK-NECKED STILTS and various waterfowl at the Para Ponds. Also a
Red-winged Blackbird which was very much like a Tricolored, but gave a
classic Red-winged song. We had a bit of trouble finding the Royal Lake
overlook, but finally got there with the help of a Columbia NWR map (the only
map we could find in the whole town!) There were upwards of 10,000 Canada
Geese in the lake, and after a couple of scans, Ryan spotted a pair of ROSS'S
GEESE on the far east side of the lake.

We then decided to go to the ponds along Dodson & Frenchman Hill Rd.
Highlights here included:
1 BURROWING OWL sitting at the entrance to the man-made burrow
2 GRAY PARTRIDGES a couple feet away from the owl
Redheads, Cinnamon Teal, BN Stilts
2 CASPIAN TERNS

Our last birding of the day was done along the Old Vantage Highway. Very
slow (probably due to the wind), but I did see a BREWER'S SPARROW and heard a
VESPER or two, as well as loads of Sage Sparrows. A lingering ROUGH-LEGGED
HAWK was sitting in a field in Kittitas. Also, OSPREYS are back in force and
we saw about a dozen today. That's about it, good birding.

Charlie Wright
Birdking88 at aol.com
Sumner, WA