Thursday morning (7/4/02) I left home in Seattle early to visit my sister in
La Grande, Oregon. Along the way I birded Benton County since it was on the
way and I had done little birding there.

First stop was at the rest stop just south of the Vernita Bridge on Hwy 24
in the NW corner of the county. 17 species at this location included
EASTERN & WESTERN KINGBIRD and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE. Going south, I took the
first road to the west, heading to China Bar. The road was closed about 3
miles in, before it approached the river, but I saw 4 perched COMMON
NIGHTHAWKS and heard a CANYON WREN along the cliff to the south. After a
few minutes, I had the bird in the scope with it's red tail shining in the
sun.

Traveling south on Hwy 240, a pair of BURROWING OWLS were standing by their
burrow in the Arid Land Reserve. At about the same location was a young
RED-TAILED HAWK with 2 tails. The bright red adult tail was growing in
above the complete immature tail. The red tail was over half as long and
half as wide as the other tail and when the bird preened, the tails clearly
parted from each other to allow a good view of each tail.

The West Richland area was rich with birds. There were CASPIAN TERN, WOOD
DUCK, SWAINSON'S HAWK, LAZULI BUNTING and other species. At Plymouth, just
before crossing the Columbia on I82 was a lone AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. It
seems I have seen more of them this year than usual. A BEWICK'S WREN sang
in Plymouth Park.

I reached La Grande Thursday night. Friday morning, my sister,
brother-in-law and I went birding. Ladd Marsh near La Grande was full of
birds including 6 SANDHILL CRANES (adults and young). An AMERICAN BITTERN
flew about as we watched from the overlook on Foothill Rd. Next was the
Morgan Lake area, full of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS. Other birds at that location
included RED CROSSBILL, RUDDY DUCK, PYGMY NUTHATCH, and NORTHERN
ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS.

After lunch, we drove the roads in the valley around La Grande. A
SWAINSON'S HAWK had a duckling in its talons as it perched on a telephone
pole. At one point we had a dark morph Swainson's and a dark Red Tail as
well as a light morph Swainson's at the same time. Later that day we looked
for and found 10 or more BOBOLINKS along Foothill Road. We camped that
night at Spring Creek, our only owl a calling GREAT HORNED OWL.

The next day (7/6) we awoke to the sounds of CASSIN'S VIREO and HERMIT
THRUSH. At Bird Track, off of HWY 244, SW of La Grande, we enjoyed CALLIOPE
HUMMINGBIRD, GRAY CATBIRD and WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER. After a few other
stops we returned to Spring Creek, where at 5PM we discovered 2 GREAT GRAY
OWLETS and 1 adult. This was off of Forest Road 741. At the exact same
location were the following: 1 female BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER, several
WILLIAMSON'S SAPSCKERS, RED-NAPED SAPSUCKERS and too many HAIRY WOODPECKERS
to count. HOUSE WRENS and WINTER WRENS sang at the same time. A pair of
EVENING GROSBEAKS made an appearance. All of the above were seen within 2
hours and all seen within viewing distance of the GGOW's.

Yesterday (7/7) I left La Grande and returned through Benton County again.
Barely west of Plymouth late yesterday afternoon, I saw lightning strike a
transformer .5 mile up the road and immediately start 2 brush fires
alongside the road. I stopped at the nearest phone and had the fire
department called. As if that weren't enough, while driving north on Hwy
221 from Paterson on the Columbia to Prosser on I82, I ran into a dust storm
that lasted about 20 miles. At times visibility was zero for 3 to 4
seconds. This area is known for dust storms, but I learned later from
locals that this one was a bit more severe than normal. Found a room in
Prosser and crashed.

Today (7/8) I saw GRAY PARTRIDGE and PRAIRIE FALCON as well as BLACK-CROWNED
NIGHT-HERON and LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE near Prosser. While driving on I82 near
Wapato, a WHITE PELICAN flew over the Yakima River.

It was a good week end.

Marv Breece
Seattle, WA