Tweets,
Enjoyed a nice morning of birding in the quilomene and along huntzinger
rd.
Birds:
Sage Sparrow
Golden Eagle
Great-Horned Owl
Says Phoebe
Yellow-billed Loon
Western Grebe

Along the vantage hwy, the best sightings was a nice immature golden
eagle soaring overhead, being chased by a red-tailed hawk. Then at the
entrace to the Whiskey Dick Unit at MP 20, Sage Sparrows were back in
force, with some evidence that they may have been back for quite a
while. In my limited searching (about a mile) I encountered 14 different
singing males and one of these males was with a second bird closely
associating, I'm assuming a female as I never saw antagonistic
interactions or singing from the second bird.
At the Gingo overlook we had 2 Western Grebes, a nice treat for mid
february on the Columbia. Down at Wanapum dam, the yellow-billed loon
persists, however it has now molted all of its primaries and saw it take
one brief flight of about 30 yards accross the river. This may indicate
its getting ready to move on. I have never even seen it attempt to fly
in my previous 11 sightings of this bird.
On the right side of the road in a gully near the islands had a couple
nice treats. We got to watch a great-horned owl flush from the side of
the road and flew to the ledges, nice views. Also obliging, was two Says
Phoebes at this spot.
Along Huntzinger Rd, numerous rock and canyon wrens were present.
A final note, out on my study site in the Quilomene, saw two purshia
tridentata beginning to bud out, which for mid feb, is extrodinary as
they usually don't start until at least late march to april. All told 51
species, not a bad day for mid february.

Good birding all.

Scott Downes
downess at cwu.edu
Ellensburg WA