My family and I birded from the Cle Elum area to the Moses Lake vicinity on
3/23/03 and 3/24/03

The weather was good on 3/23/03, with light rain and sun breaks at time. We
exited I-90 East at Bullfrog road, stopping on the right just past the river
bridge.
Red-breasted Nuthatch 5
Dark-Eyed Junco 3
Bald Eagle 1
Mountain Chickadee 2
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Spotted Towhee 1
Winter Wren 1
Pine Siskin 2
Varied Thrush 1
Pine Grosbeak 1
Cassin's Finch 8
Clark's Nutcracker 10+ (flying back and forth over the gravel road)

We continued on Bullfrog road and into Cle Elum, onto HWY 970 and turned
right at Hidden Valley Rd.
Western Meadowlark 2
California Quail 5
Stellar's Jay 1
House Finch 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mountain Chickadee 1
Western Bluebird 5
Northern Harrier 1
Savanna Sparrow (calling!)
Cassin's Finch 3
Say's Phoebe
We turned right off Hidden Valley road and continued east for a mile on HWY
970 before turning left onto Swauk Prairie Rd (this road was not on any maps
I have).
It was getting late in the day, so there were only a couple of Western
Bluebirds, a Killdeer and over a dozen Canada Geese at this location.
We continued on, taking the Old Vantage Highway to the Wanapum dam. Along
the Columbia towards the dam and at the base of the dam we saw:
Common Goldeneye
Common Loon
Bufflehead
Yellow Billed Loon
Red-necked Grebe
Rock Wren
We then headed across the Columbia and turned onto HWY 26. Turning right
along Corfu road (Corfu south):
Sharp-shinned Hawk
White-crowned Sparrows 10
Red-shafted Flicker
Northern Harrier
Sandhill Cranes 2000+
Yellow-headed Blackbird 500+
Red-winged Blackbirds 100+
The YHBL and RWBL were in a Cattail marsh together making an amazing amount
of noise. It was wonderful.

3/24/03 Moses Lake Vicinity
We took I-90 to Dodson Raod. Over Moses Lake near exit 175, there were 50 or
more Ring-billed Gulls. On Dodson Road:
Marsh Wren
Greater Scaup
Ring-necked Duck
American Coot
Canvasback
Gadwall
Common Goldeneye
Killdeer
Song Sparrow
Green-winged Teal
Great Blue Heron
Redhead
Great Horned Owl

Took a right onto Frenchman Road at the Birder's Corner
Northern Shoveler 2
American Goldfinch 10
American Widgeon 5
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Mallard 4
Wilson's Snipe 2
Green-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal 1
Trumpeter Swan 6
And 75 or so Red-winged Blackbirds with a Leucistic RWBL mixed into the
bunch. You can check out the photo taken by John, my brother, at:
http://home.attbi.com/~tarj1a1/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html

We then headed back east along Frenchman Rd, taking a left onto O Sullivan
Dam road and left onto C Rd, towards the Desert Wildlife Area. We were very
excited to see a Veery, and Sage Sparrow. Both of these birds were lifers
for most of us in the group (though not for lack of trying). Also there were
Northern Shrike, California Quail, and Bewick's Wren.

We continued along O Sullivan Dam road, taking a right into the Columbia
National Wildlife Refuge. Along the gravel roads, we saw Rock Wrens many
times, and at the Frog Trail Loop we saw a Violet Green Swallow.

We had a total of 76 species for the trip. Very active, and very cool!
On the way back to Olympia, we saw perhaps 200 or more Elk on the hillsides
just out of Ellensburg as you approach Elk Heights.

Jim Lynch
Olympia, WA
tarj1a1 at attbi.com