Subject: Spokane County - Upland Sandpiper
Date: Jul 6 17:39:20 2003
From: Wilson E Cady - gorgebirds at juno.com


On June 22, I received a message from Phil Mattocks stating that
James Acton had found an UPLAND SANDPIPER on May 21 along Deno Road in
Spokane County. This is the same location it was seen in last year (on my
in-laws' ranch). I was visiting the family over the Fourth of July
Holiday and stopped by the power substation, which is West of the
intersection of Deno Road and Hayford Road, on our way to the ranch at
about 8 PM on July 3rd. The bird was perched on top of one of the tall
double power poles South of Deno Road and was calling, we only had a
brief view of it through binoculars before it dropped into the grasses. I
went back about six times over the next two days at various times of the
day and did not see or hear the bird again even though I spent up to two
hours per visit. I was delighted to see this bird since I did not locate
it last year during my visits. Other birds here were GRAY PARTRIDGE,
EASTERN KINGBIRD, WESTERN KINGBIRD (nesting in the substation),
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, and VESPER SPARROW.
We ask that anyone who visits the area in search of this
sandpiper to please stay on the roads and not enter any of the fields in
order to limit disturbance to this bird.
My wife and I also had a chance to check out the Little Spokane
River Natural Area following the excellent guide written by Garrett
MacDonald that was in the "Summer" issue of "Washington Birder" magazine.
This is a really birdy spot and was well worth a visit, we found many of
the species that Garrett mentioned and in the spots he said they would
be.

Wilson Cady
N45 35.618' W122 13.738'
Washougal, WA
gorgebirds at juno.com