For all the vulture aficionados, I just wanted to put on record that I saw a
surprising number of them (at least 6, but I suspect there were more, as
they were visible all the time we were there) at Quincy Lakes, Grant County,
on Saturday, 21 September. I used to consider this species essentially
absent from the Columbia Basin, but I see them more and more well out in the
basin in recent years. These birds were flying low in the morning, and I'm
sure they roosted there somewhere, perhaps on the basalt cliffs (an
alternative site could have been one of the big powerline pylons nearby).
At least they weren't high-flying migrants.

We also saw several along I-90 in the Cle Elum-Lake Easton area.

I saw an "eastern" Orange-crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata celata) in a
willow grove at Quincy Lakes, along with lots of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and
White-crowned Sparrows, and hundreds of White-crowned and Savannah sparrows
in the fields near the Columbia Gorge amphitheater.

I saw my first junco and Golden-crowned Sparrow for the fall in my yard this
morning (9/22).

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