Hi. We made a quick trip to Auburn for a class reunion and had a few
good birds.
On Friday(thanks to the Dennys ) Forster's Tern at the Walla Walla
delta.
Two American White Pelicans in the Yakima River at the south edge of
the city of Yakima and this afternoon there were about 20 setting on
a bar in the river about the same place. Hard to count at 60 mph from
the freeway
We saw 3 Turkey Vultures, one flew across the freeway and landed
in a tree between Roslyn and Cle Elum, the other two were circling
over the rest stop east of Cle Elum.
Drove the Canyon route from Ellensburg to Yakima. Birding was poor
except for a few species
Cliff Swallows more then a 1000 near the Umptanum camp area, also
saw one Violet-green Swallow. There were numbers of Common
Mergansers in the river, one Osprey and two mallards.
We drove up Burbank Canyon in Kittitas County [De Lorme page 51 B
5]
Not many birds but a few interesting ones.
Red-winged Blackbirds
Mourning Dove
White-crowned Sparrow
Calif. Quail
Ring-necked Pheasant
Brown-headed Cowbird 2 small flocks mostly males
Red-tailed Hawk 7 flying so close we could watch all seven in the
binos at once . They seemed to all disappear
at once. We did find them down canyon
later
Rough-legged Hawk one flying low and lit on a sage bush near us.
About that time we saw another hawk
high in the sky. Before we could get the
glasses on it, it dove. It hit the hawk
on the bush and both went to the ground
It also was a Rough legged. Jacque
thought they were mating. If so it was
the fastest and roughest love making I have
seen.
Northern Flicker two seen
Yellow-rumped Warbler a few in one willow

Back at the mouth of the canyon we spotted one swift. We observed
it for more then 10 minutes. It was larger then the swallows in the
area, We could see no sign of white . The bird would flap for a bit
them glide them flap and glide. The sky was overcast so the light was
very flat. This may have made the white hard to see but we both
think it was a Black Swift.
Our reasons for this ; no white color, large size..the long glides
without flapping and the tail was a bit notched and seemed wider then
we remembered White-throated being
We stopped for gas at Burbank Walla Walla county about dusk and as
we pulled out of the station a Western Kingbird flew into a tree
beside the road. A nice ending for a super day
Larry and Jacque Goodhew Walla Walla.