Hello Tweets,

My mother and I birded portions of northcentral Washington from the 3rd-5th of January,mainly due ot participating on the Grand Coulee CBC on the 4th along with additional birding. We encountered variable weather conditions during our 3 day excursion from partly sunny skies to dense foggy conditions at times,although the worst weather was undoutadly during the Grand Coulee CBC with rain and wind,but we managed to locate 51 species in our area with several highlights to be listed below. We began our trip on the 3rd of January at Wanapum Dam in Kittitas Co.,then continued on our way to Grand Coulee. On the 4th we spent the entire day participating on the Grand Coulee CBC along with owling made in Northrup Canyon and on the 5th we birded a few locations in the Grand Coulee area,then checked a few locations south of Grand Coulee to Hartline,as we travelled our way to Hwy.2 driving through areas of dense fog,but the limited viewing resulted in encountered a very large flock of Gray-crowned Rosy Finches along V NE between 47 and 48 NE in Grant Co. that contained up to 500+ birds,which was our personal largest flock that we have ever encountered in WA. While driving back and forth between 47 and 48 NE we encountered another large flock of Gray-crowned Rosy Finches that we observed foraging along the edges of the road in search of graveland spilt seeds that contained 250 birds. We were very fortunate to observe the erratic,foraging flock along the edge of the road as well as on telephone wires at the intersection of V NE and 47 NE, which was probably our main highlight of the 3 day trip. The first flock that we found that contained up tp 500 birds was truly an exceptional sighting,of which the birds exploded from the edge of the road and flew in a tight,rolling flock to the east and were never seen again,even with relatively light traffic. The second flock was noted upon a second check at the intersection of 47 NE and V NE,in which the birds were observed resting briefly on telephone wires in addition to foraging in typical fashion on gravel along the edge of the road before they too flew off to the east.Both flocks were observed in the same manor and were of pure flocks containing NO Horned Larks or other winter specialties. We were also able to locate small wandering groups of Horned Larks,up to 10 Snow Buntings in this immediate area,although conditions were extremely limited due to dense fog,which cleared as we continued south towards Hartline. Near the south end of V NE we located a large flock of Horned Larks that contained up to 250+ birds and up to 4 Lapland Longspurs that were noted in the flock. Although we encountered very few Snow Buntings others the day before had exceptional numbers in the same area,but the birds do move around and visibily can be or is quite limited due to dense fog,which may be daily during the winter.

On the the afternoon of the 3rd we checked the spillway of Wanapum Dam,where the lingering Yellow-billed Loon was again observed foraging loosely with up to 8 Common Loons with up to 8 additional Common Loons encountered further downstream to the RR tressel over the Columbia River. We carefully checked all of the visible loons from several locations between the Wanapum Dam spillway to the RR tressel over the Columbia River bridge,but were in NO way able to turn any of the Common Loons into an Arctic Loon,so we can only say that we did not see it going by recent reports of bird possibly still remaining. There were up to 3 Common Loons that we observed that showed white sides and flanks,but size,structure and coloration were wrong for a true Arctic Loon. Perhaps an individual will be able to take a clear photograph and submit precise details of the Arctic Loon from this location.Other highlights while checkinga few locations above and below Wanapum Dam included:

1 RED-THROATED LOON
2 Am.White Pelicans
2 Canvasback
1 White-winged Scoter
2 Bald Eagles
3 Rock Wrens
1 Canyon Wren

Further north at Soap Lake we checked a few locations along Hwy.17 bordering the lake which produced good numbers of Ruddy Ducks and up 58 Eared Grebes that were counted. 3 Tundra Swans were noted along Hwy.17 at Lake Lenore as we continued north to Grand Coulee.

The next day our main highlight of several during the Grand Coulee CBC were up to 4 SWAMP SPARROWS that were noted along the reedy,marshy edges of Osborn Bay Lake west of S.R.155. The birds were all heard first then seen well at close range for a lengthy time with a few nearby Song Sparrows,but the Swamp Sparrows seemed to cooperate well too our efforts of "pishing" allowing great views of the birds. A single Fox Sparrow was also noted in the thickly,vegetated area near the Grand Coulee Dam Airport.Another highlight of the day was an immature Northern Goshawk in the public wildlife area east of S.R.155,of which we encoutered all three accipiters species for the day. We located 3 species of owl for the day including up to 4 Long-eared Owls,of which 2 were seen with 2 heard only in Northrup Canyon while owling shortly before daybreak along with a calling Northern Saw-whet Owl and 2 Great Horned Owls. Other notable species observed in our area included 1 Western Grebe,3 Rough-legged Hawks,12 Chukar,1 Townsend's Solitaire, and 3 Northern Shrikes. Overall despite the weather during the day we had a great list of species.

On the 5th of January we checked a few locations in the GrandCoulee area with our first stop made at the spillway of Grand Coulee Dam in Grant Co. that produced a single flyover Prairie Falcon and up to 4 Am.Dippers. We checked the north end of the Banks Lake waterfront between Electric City and Grand Coulee,which hosted a roosting gull flock near S.R.155 allowing great views of 4 species of gull including 2 Thayer's Gulls(1 adult,1 first-year bird),1 adult Glaucous-winged Gull,and1 Glaucous-winged Gull/Western Gull. We also checked for the Swamp Sparrows that we found the day before,but only one bird was briefly heard at the same location than noted yesterday. We drove from Grand Coulee to Hartline via W NE to Hwy.2 with several highlights that we mentioned previously,then continued on our way home. Our second Prairie Falcon of the trip was noted along Hwy.2 east of Coulee City in Grant Co. and 9 Tundra Swans were noted flying over Soap Lake along Hwy.17. 2 Tundra Swans were noted along I-90 near Kittitas with 2 birds observed along I-90 west of Ellensburg on the 3rd of January.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net