Hello Tweeters,



This weekend, my wife and I traveled to Pullman to visit our kids. On
the way over on Thursday, April 4, at 6pm, we located the Ross's Goose
among the thousands of Canada geese at the south County Line pond. At
dusk, it flew to the west with a couple hundred Canada geese. A white
pelican was also present. We failed to locate the goose today when we
returned. It would be easy to miss among the hulking Canadas or it may
have left the area. Also present were about 30 American avocets and
about fifteen black-necked stilts. A nice pile of basking western
painted turtles were also on the south pond - on the little peninsula
that juts out from below the highway overpass.



While in Pullman, we walked the loop trail at Kamiak Butte County Park,
a treed ridge in the middle of wheatfields. This is a wonderful place
and a mandatory visit if you ever get to the Palouse. Flowers were about
at their peak; yellow bells, balsamroot, grass widows, shooting stars,
yellow fawn lilies. We saw a large number of mountain chickadees on top
and some moose sign. Many western bluebirds were near nestboxes on their
usual spots on the backroads at the base of the Butte.



Located a Hutton's vireo in the trees at the Ginko Park trailhead today.




Dave and Wendy Parent, Freeland dpdvm at whidbey.com