Hey Tweeters,

I led a small field trip to the above counties today for WOS,
targeting shorebirds among other things. The day was quite pleasant, though
the temperature reached 89 degrees during the hottest part of the day. In all
we observed 90 species of birds. Our first stop was at Gingko State Park at
Vantage, and on first impression it seemed pretty slow. Looking a bit closer
we spotted an adult PEREGRINE FALCON on the cliff seen from the overlook. The
trees at the interpretive center hosted a reasonably good number of migrants,
including approximately 10 WARBLING VIREOS, 6 or 8 YELLOW WARBLERS, 1
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, 2 BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS, 2 WESTERN TANAGERS, and a
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW. After a long while of scanning, we finally got on 8
CHUKARS down below the overlook. Also several RING-BILLED and CALIFORNIA
GULLS floating on the river.

Next on our itinerary were the County Line Ponds along Highway 26,
where we birded with Barry Levine and others. Not as many birds here as there
were last weekend, but still we noted several dozen WESTERN, 12 or 15 LEAST,
and 1 or 2 SEMIPALMATED, and 7 or 8 BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS. Also numbers of
BLACK-NECKED STILTS and AMERICAN AVOCETS, as well as quite a few of both
LESSER and GREATER YELLOWLEGS and WILSON'S and RED-NECKED PHALAROPES. From
there we made our way to the Para Ponds and McCain's Potato Ponds near
Othello, where we ran into Bob Flores and birded with him for a while. During
our stay we had 2-4 juvenile STILT SANDPIPERS among both yellowlegs, and
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER. We also noted SOLITARY SANDPIPER, WESTERNS, LEASTS,
both phalaropes, SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, and more.

At Lind Coulee on the eastern side of Potholes Reservoir we had
another juvenile STILT SANDPIPER. Other birds in that area were several
CLARK'S GREBES, 12 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS, 4 GREAT EGRETS, and several
thousand RING-BILLED GULLS. Next stop, the ponds along Frenchman Hill Rd,
gave us another SOLITARY SANDPIPER and a SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, quite a lot of
COMMON SNIPES, LESSER YELLOWLEGS, etc. Also numbers of all three teal,
pintail, shoveler, and others. Headed toward I-90 we saw several SWAINSON'S
HAWKS, and GREAT EGRETS. Our last birding of the day was along N Frontage
Road, where a single BURROWING OWL perched up nicely on a fence post.

Good luck and good birding,

Charlie Wright
Birdking88 at aol.com
Sumner, WA