The Tricolored Blackbirds seem to have moved on. Has anyone checked Wilson
Creek yet? There are plenty of red-wings on territory around here.

We have a mounted mallard/pintail hybrid in our office which shows distinct
characteristics of both species.

American Tree Sparrow is found in sagebrush when there is denser grass
nearby. I have seen them consistently along Crab Creek in Columbia NWR near
Morgan Lake Road, and using a Russian-olive tree along Corfu Road with dense
grass nearby for the last several winters. While the birds you saw may have
been a migrant flock, last year we had some stick around into April.

I'm not so sure that the Sage Sparrows are early. I have found them
between Mattawa and Vernita Bridge (SR 24) in mid-late February several
years.

Randy Hill
Othello
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kerry Turley" <kdturley at bentonrea.com>
To: "Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2002 8:45 a
Subject: Adams, Benton, Grant, and Kittitas Counties


>
> Date: March 2, 2002
>
> I've been couped up too long and it was such a beautiful day that I made a
> mad dash around Adams, Benton, Grant, and Kittitas Counties, Washington in
> search of a few target species...which I did not find, Ahhh but it was a
> beautiful day!!
>
> I did have a few surprises though.
>
> First stop was at the Para Ponds in Othello hoping to see the Tri-colored
> Blackbirds but no success, I did see an unusual NORTHERN PINTAIL that had
a
> rufous breast, other than that he was marked the same as the rest of the
> pintails. (Are Pintails known to Hybridize? and is that a word?)
>
> Para Ponds also had 75+ Swans on it, the ones that gave me a fair look all
> seemed to be TUNDRA SWANS.
>
> A few miles farther down McManoman Rd. I had my second surprise, as I
> looked for early arriving Sage Sparrows, I came across a flock of 10-15
> AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS all hanging around a small sage brush patch near
the
> road. This really seemed like odd habitat for them, I assume they are
> probably just migrating through.
>
> I did find a couple of early arriving SAGE SPARROWS near the Amphitheater
at
> the gorge in Grant Co., which made me hope that there might be other early
> arrival of sparrows in the area, so I headed for the vantage area hoping
for
> an early Lark Sparrow (and silently hoping for a Black-chinned Sparrow
below
> the dam) I was surprised to find this area to be totally void of song
> birds...eerie.
>
> I was hoping also to see some early Sandhill Cranes , but missed on that
one
> too.
>
> Birds seen :
>
> Pied-billed Grebe
> Horned Grebe
> American White Pelican
> Great Blue Heron
>
> Canada Goose
> Tundra Swan
> American Wigeon
> Mallard
> Northern Shoveler
> Northern Pintail
> Redhead
> Ring-necked Duck
> Lesser Scaup
> Bufflehead
> Common Goldeneye
> Bald Eagle
> Northern Harrier
> Sharp-shinned Hawk
> Red-tailed Hawk
>
> American Kestrel
> American Coot
>
> Killdeer
> Ring-billed Gull
> Rock Dove
> Mourning Dove
> Belted Kingfisher
> Hairy Woodpecker
>
> Northern Flicker
> Say's Phoebe
> Violet-green Swallow
> Black-billed Magpie
> American Crow
> Common Raven
> American Robin
> European Starling
> American Tree Sparrow
> Sage Sparrow
> Song Sparrow
> White-crowned Sparrow
> Red-winged Blackbird
> Western Meadowlark
> Brewer's Blackbird
> House Finch
> House Sparrow
>
> Total number of species seen: 44
>
> Kerry Turley
> 304 E. Woodin Rd.
> Sunnyside, WA 98944
>
>
>