Hello tweeters,

A dragonfly trip to the Quincy Lakes in Grant County today (6/6/02) produced
a few birds that interested me. First was a BURROWING OWL at a nest about 5
miles down the Silica Road toward the Columbia Gorge Amphitheater. On the
right side of the road there are some haystacks, and a little side road
crosses a ditch. Under that road there is a culvert, and in that culvert is
one or more Burrowing Owls, presumably a nest. This is the westernmost
Burrowing Owl I've seen in Grant Co.

Another bird of interest was a RED-EYED VIREO in trees along the stream at
the head of the Dusty Lakes Trail at Quincy Lakes. I don't know if they
would breed in such open country, so it might have been a late migrant.

On the lake across the road from that parking lot was a pair of BLACK-NECKED
STILTS, the first I've seen at these lakes. I think the species continues to
increase, or at least turn up at new places.

I don't think any of them breed there, but there were Double-crested
Cormorants, Ring-billed and California gulls, Caspian and Forster's terns,
and Great Blue and Black-crowned Night herons on the lakes. Really quite a
birdy place, we thought, and parts of it very scenic.

Dennis Paulson
--
Netta Smith and Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115