Howdy (they say this in E. WA), Steve Nord and I have just returned from the
land of the Sage-Grouse and can confirm what most of you already know...they
exist. The weather was not conducive to birding by ear, we only managed to
hear a few of the common shrub-steppe birds. I'll just shut up and give you
the list by location, as I'm too tired to really expound on the birding:

April 1, 2003-
I-5 past Cle Elum:
4 Turkey Vulture
1 Mountain Bluebird (male)
6 Elk

Vantage HWY (very windy):
1 Rough-legged Hawk (pale imm., very nice looking)
1 Wilson's Snipe
1 Say's Phoebe
Good numbers of Ruby-crowneds and a few Golden-crowned Kinglets
Pair of Mountain Bluebirds
Horned Larks and Meadowlarks singing (for the rest of the trip)

Ginko Overlook:
The Say's Phoebe is back

Wanapum Dam:
2 Common Loon

Sagebrush Flat Road (out of Ephrata):
1 LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE
2 Varied Thrush
3 WHITE-THROATED SWIFT (in Rimrock)

APRIL 2, 2003-
Leahy lek:
20 GREATER SAGE-GROUSE (1 female)
6 Sandhill Crane
1 Jackrabbit SP (predawn, in the road)

Blue Lake (south of Dry Falls):
7 Swan Species flyby

Lenore Lake:
2 Common Loons (also heard)
Eared Grebes (common here and Soap Lake, most in alt plumage)
Horned Grebes (a few, in basic)
4 Barrow's Goldeneye
lots of Ruddy Ducks (some in alt plumage)
Canyon Wren (heard)

Hwy 17 South of Ephrata:
1 Rough-legged Hawk

Sundance RD off Atkinson RD (about 3 mi S. of Othello off 24):
9 Sandhill Crane
1 LONG-BILLED CURLEW(first heard, then flew overhead, good yardbird for
somebody)
BLUE JAY (we heard it quite a few times, but couldn't get it to come in the
open. Eventually gave up on it since there were other birds to see!)
6 A. Goldfinch

Para Ponds in Othello:
Canvasback
2 drake Cinnamon Teal
1 dead Virginia Rail stuck to the barbed wire off the side of the road
looking very much like a warning to other Virginia Rails...
TRICOLORED BLACKBIRD (at least 2 males with a large flock of blackbirds in
the feedlot past the ponds)
Yellow-headed Blackbird

Dodson RD and Frenchman Hills RD ponds:
Redhead
Canvasback
3 BLACK-NECKED STILT
4 GREATER YELLOWLEGS
Also a Burrowing Owl was present at the Dodson RD den/hole/pipe

Snoqualmie Pass:
1 adult Bald Eagle

Jason Paulios
Olympia, WA
JPaulios at hotmail.com

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