BBBBRRRRR! 6 degrees F this morning. I was going to do a sparrow search and low and behold the peeps are still around the coulee. There is enough current in the rivulets along the main creek channedl to keep the water from freezing and this keeps the shorebirds around.

Gadwall - 5
Mallard - 17
Green-winged Teal - 6
Ring-necked Pheasant - 2 (there were more but in the confusion of chase I only saw the two. See story below)
Killdeer - 28
Lesser Yellowlegs - 3
Western Sandpiper - 16
Pectoral Sandpiper - 2
Long-billed Dowitcher - 23
Ring-billed Gull - 113
Herring Gull - 1
European Starling - 2
American Pipit - 37
White-crowned Sparrow - 2
Golden-crowned Sparrow - 1
Red-winged Blackbird - 3
House Finch - 2
Northern Harrier - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
PRAIRIE FALCON - 1

The birds all scattered when the Prairie Falcon appeared and put the chase on a small group of ring-necked pheasant that were on the other side of the coulee. He showed no interest in the shorebirds or ducks, but they were certainly interested in him. I couldn't tell if the falcon was successful in his effort to catch a pheasant, as they all disappeared over the edge of the hill, but I suspect he was. The shorebirds never settled down after the falcon, and the appearance of the harriers and the red-tail didn't help. I finally left for greener pastures.

Moses Lake Spillway #1

Stopped here in hopes of spotting a few scoter on the lake. There were no scoter, but did se the following from the viewing platform and the surrounding area.

Pie-billed Grebe - 2
Western Grebe - 11
Great Blue Heron - 3
Great Egret - 7
Bonaparte's Gull - 1
Ring-billed Gull - 1
American Robin - 12 (They love the russian olives apparently)
Fox Sparrow - 1
Song Sparrow - 4
House Finch - 23 (They like the olives also)
WILSON'S WARBLER - 1 (It would seem to me to be very late to see one of these, at least in Moses Lake. Our nights have been below freezing for about a week, and below ten for three days now. He did not seem out-of-sorts though. He flew clear across the outlet (50 meters) when I pished, and raised quite a ruckus.

Good birding

Doug Schonewald
Moses Lake, WA
dschone8 at bentonrea.com