Hi Tweets,

I went to Wenatchee, picked up my son Corey, and tried to find the Iceland
Gull that Dave Beaudette reported on Tuesday. Not only did we not find the
Iceland Gull, we didn't see a gull at all until about 3:00 when we found one
Ring-billed in downtown Wenatchee and another in East Wenatchee. We tried
all of the spots Dave mentioned in his e-mail on Tuesday twice plus the East
Wenatchee landfill and the Taco Bell in Wenatchee, where Corey's mom told me
she always see gulls.

In between gulling runs, we toured the area northeast of Waterville looking
for the Snowy Owl that Meredith Spencer reported mid-week. We didn't find
it, either. We did see four flocks of Snow Buntings - 400 in the first with
most of them on the power lines along 8 NW near K or L. Along 6 NW we found
a huge flock of about 2000 buntings doing what they are supposed to do -
rolling nervously along the fields with a few landing on the road briefly.
The other flocks were about 600 and 100, again on the power lines.

The only raptors we found were three Rough-legged Hawks and one Red-tailed
Hawk. Numerous Common Ravens were in the area.

The Yellow-billed Loon is still at Wanapum Dam. I saw it briefly in the
morning near Old #54, the boat or barge near the boat launch and again in
the late afternoon in the middle of the river about even with the south end
of the dam. Also there were four Common Loons with one near breeding
plumage, ten Common Goldeneye, two Barrow's Goldeneye and four Great Blue
Herons.

The Yellow-billed Loon has a more patterned back than when I saw it in
January. This morning it was in good light and the bill seemed much
yellower, also. It appears to be starting to molt into breeding plumage.

A few weeks ago I noticed that Douglas County named a road after President
Bush: W NE.

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