Sept. 5 after dark I was scouting potential Chukar habitat along the Snake River in Franklin County when I observed in my headlights 2 Poorwills. They were present at the same spot 30 mins. later. To get to this spot take the Pasco-Kahlotus Rd. east to Snake River Rd. Turn south 200 feet and the Poorwills were on the road at this spot. This is dry land wheat country. I did not find any Chukars even though I spent the night in Devils Canyon just south of Kahlotus. Habitat looked good for Chukar and for reptiles.

At 7 am the WOS field trip officially began at Washtucna. We were concentrating on passerine migrants which were not super obvious. Our itinerary from here was: Washtucna sewer pond for shorebirds, a kind of park area in Kahlotus which happened to be crawling with birds, Wind Dust Park, Hood Park in the heat of the day, Dodd-Iowa Beef Ponds which were loaded with waterfowl and some shorebirds and gulls, Walla Walla River mouth, and lastly the Yakima River Delta in Kennewick.

Late in the day and the WOS field trip was over I checked out Whitcomb Island NWR where 7 Black-necked Stilts and Western Sandpipers were east of the entrance. Next I had 1 Great Egret at Crow Butte State Park. I also checked out Rock Creek, but it was super windy with the low coming in and could not locate any small birds which should have been there. The area was very dry which is normal for this time of year.

Highlights for each area are as follows:

Washtucna
1-Sharp-shinned Hawk
3-Barn Owls
many Hammond's Flycatchers
1-Say's Phoebe
1-very yellow under-parts Warbling Vireo
1-Rock Wren
1-Bewick's Wren
1-Ruby-crowned Kinglet
many Orange-crowned Warblers
a group of female Western Tanagers
1-Spotted Towhee
White-crowned Sparrows with a Junco with them
1-Bullock's Oriole female

Washtucna sewer pond
1-Virginia Rail out on the mud for good views
a handful of Western Sandpipers and Baird's Sandpipers
1-Least Sandpiper
1-Pectoral Sandpiper
1-Wilson's Snipe
2-Bank Swallows flying with Barn Swallows
1-Marsh Wren
Vesper, Savannah, and White-crowned Sparrows around the edges of the ponds
1-Yellow-headed Blackbird

Kahlotus
2 Great Horned Owls and 2 Loggerhead Shrikes seen before WOS field trip began
2-Hammond's Flycatchers
1-Cassin's Vireo
both Kinglets
1-female American Redstart
more female Western Tanagers
Chipping and White-crowned Sparrows

Wind Dust Park
pretty dead here over-all
1-Osprey
1-Golden Eagle
1-Red-breasted Nuthatch
a few more female Western Tanagers

Hood Park
1-Osprey
1-Barn Owl flushed from Russian Olives
1-Great Horned Owl also flushed from the dense trees
1-female Downy Woodpecker
1-Bewick's Wren

Dodd-Iowa Beef Ponds
ducks included Cinnamon Teal, Pintail, Mallards, Canvasback
heard 1 Virginia Rail
5 American Avocets
1-Greater Yellowlegs
Western Sandpipers
1-Wilson's Snipe
a small scattering of Red-necked Phalaropes with 2 Wilson's Phalaropes
2-Franklin's Gulls
scattered Bonaparte's Gulls

Walla Walla River mouth
water level was high which doesn't help in creating habitat for shorebirds
1-Great Egret at McNary NWR as we drove by
American White Pelicans
Glaucous-winged Gulls
by this time it was close to 100 degrees so we headed up to Kennewick

Yakima River Delta
American White Pelicans
2-Great Egrets
heard another Virginia Rail
3-Greater Yellowlegs
Western Sandpipers
Red-necked Phalaropes
Caspian Terns
8 small terns some of which we identified as to Forster's, 3 seemed darker backed which may have been Commons, but the heat waves and distance was too great for positive ID
1-Black-capped Chickadee singing in 97 degree heat

Any questions concerning the places or birds seen please ask,

Ken Knittle, Vancouver, WA
washingtonbirder at hotmail.comGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com