Hi Tweeters,

Today I scoured north-central Washington looking for shorebirds and trying
to fill in gaps in my year list. I started at Moses Lake and very quickly
found 7 Clark's Grebes. Also there were:

Western Grebe - 2

I then drove out to the Job Corps Dike heron rookery, which I think is
probably more correctly named the Potholes WRA. It was really incredible.
At the large pond to the north of the dike were:

Double-crested Cormorant - 80
American White Pelican - 300+
Great Egret - 140 (by actual count)
Greater Yellowlegs - 6
Lesser Yellowlegs - 3
Spotted Sandpiper - 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 2
Western Sandpiper - 6
Least Sandpiper - 3
Long-billed Dowitcher - 8
Red-necked Phalarope - 6

There were at least 200 Great Egrets in the area.

Dodson Road had quite a few pelicans and egrets. I was surprised to see how
much the vegetation in the wetlands has come back. The purple loosestrife
is greatly reduced from just a year ago.

I found Perch Point on the east side of the Potholes Reservoir, thanks to
Dave Beaudette's directions. There I hit gold, as in American
Golden-Plover. There was an adult that is molting out of breeding plumage.
It was hanging out with a group of Killdeer, which must be the most nervous
birds in the state. I chased them around the lagoon several times, trying
to get some decent photos of the golden-plover. They will be on my website
tomorrow night, if my step-son returns the cable to hook my camera to my
computer, which he took by mistake when he borrowed my scanner yesterday.
Also at Perch Point were:

Black-crowned Night-Heron - 6
Common Goldeneye - 1
Semipalmated Plover - 2
Killdeer - too many
Western Sandpiper - 15
Bonaparte's Gull - 30
Ring-billed Gull - 15
California Gull - 8

It is best to scan Perch Point from the south side of the lagoon. To get
there, from M SE go west on 6 SE about 2.8 miles. Turn south (left) on a
gravel road with a "public fishing" access sign. Go .5 miles, then right on
a dirt and go .3 miles. Park there and walk north to the hill where you can
scan the lagoon. It is really a great place.

There were a few Wilson's Phalaropes at the Para Ponds near Othello, along
with several Greater Yellowlegs.

The County Line ponds along State Route 26 had more shorebirds than any of
my visits in several years. Included in this list is one bird that has not
been positively identified. It will take several days for me to send the
photo to some of our experts, who hopefully will be able to help me out.
The others:

Black-necked Stilt - 6
American Avocet - 30
Greater Yellowlegs - 3
Lesser Yellowlegs - 2
Solitary Sandpiper - 1
Spotted Sandpiper - 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 2
Western Sandpiper - 20
Least Sandpiper - 6
Short-billed Dowitcher - 3
Long-billed Dowitcher - 10
Wilson's Phalarope - 15
Red-necked Phalarope - 6

I had 16 species of shorebirds for the day and hopefully will add one more
if the photos are conclusive.

It was a great day,

Denny Granstrand
Yakima, WA


* * * * * * * * * * *
* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* osprey at nwinfo.net *
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