The Central Basin Audubon (Moses Lake) had a full weekend of field trips
this past weekend.

Saturday (9/13) saw the group at Washtucna and Palouse Falls SP. Both parks
had many migrants and some good birds were seen by all. The following are a
few of the highlights. I have not included a full list, just touched on the
best birds seen.

Palouse Falls SP

FOX SPARROW - One Very nice 'Slate-colored' race well observed by all. Great
county bird.
GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW - One juvenile bird with a group of white-crowns.
Another good county bird.
White-throated Swift - Three birds working around the park area. These seem
fairly late.
Hermit Thrush - Two birds drinking from the sprinkler spigots. Great looks
Cassin's Vireo - Four birds foraging in the treetops
Hammond' Flycatcher - Several hawking insects. Another decent county bird.
RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER - Great county bird.
Sharp-shinned Hawk - Not unusual except there were at least two birds
working the park and at times it seemed there might have been three.

Washtucna, Bassett Park

Townsend's Solitaire - 2
Cassin's Vireo - One
Warbling Vireo - several
GRAY FLYCATCHER - One showing the classic tail drop behavior
Lincoln Sparrow - Three or four
Sharp-shinned Hawk - One chasing prey and succeeding.
Cooper's Hawk - One perched on the playground swing set.
House Wren - One south of the park in the briars
Bewick's Wren - One in the Russian-olives.
FOX SPARROW - One that showed as well as at Palouse Falls. located in the
briars south of the park. Nice county bird

Sunday (9/14) found us touring Grant county for shorebirds. Our stops
included Soap Lake (several locations), Lind Coulee, Blythe WDFW Access
(west of Mar Don resort off of SR-262), Several locations along Dodson Road,
and the Crab Creek Overlook in the North Potholes Wildlife Management Area.
While we were looking for shorebirds, we had some very nice birds at several
locations. Some were shorebirds and others were not. Here are the
highlights.

Soap Lake (East Beach)

Sanderling - Two with a large group of westerns.
American Avocet - One still hanging on
COMMON TERN - One on the beach offering really good views. Great county bird
and a lifer for several of the group. Thanks to Ryan Shaw & Charlie Wright
for posting on this one.
SABINE'S GULL - Two juveniles. Another great county bird. Again, thanks to
Ryan Shaw & Charlie Wright for posting on this one.
Pectoral Sandpiper - 7
Baird's Sandpiper - 8

Soap Lake (West Beach)

Red-necked Phalarope - 140+ working the shoreline very close for fantastic
study.

Soap Lake (North End)

Bonaparte's Gull - 3
Eared Grebe - Many and the numbers are building

Lind Coulee

American White Pelican - 83 and we thought this was a good number at the
time.
COMMON TERN - Good county bird and nice to find another on the same day.
Greater White-Fronted Goose - Two with a large group of Canada Geese.

Dodson Road (several locations)

Greater White-fronted Goose - A flock of 16 at the Winchester Wasteway
crossing

Crab Creek Overlook

American White Pelican - A conservative estimate of 250+. They were feeding
in several large flocks and moving around so much it was almost impossible
to count them.
Great Egret - 50+ working the perimeter of the feeding pelicans.

All in all it was a great two days of birding. The total species count was:

Washtucna/Palouse Falls SP Trip: 63 species
Grant County Shorebird Trip: 72 species

Doug Schonewald
Moses Lake, WA
dschone8 at bentonrea.com