Greetings Tweeters,
On Sunday morning (15 August) I took a short walk along the Foothills Trail
near South Prairie, Pierce County. This area has proven to be very good for
fall passerines between mid-August and late-September. It isn't very
productive in the spring, but counts of several hundred migrants in the fall
aren't unusual. On this morning we parked at Crocker and walked towards
South Prairie two miles.

FOOTHILLS TRAIL (7:00-8:30):
Band-tailed Pigeon (10)
Rufous Hummingbird (2)
Red-breasted Sapsucker (5)
Downy Woodpecker (4)
Hairy Woodpecker (2)
Western Wood-Pewee (6)
Willow Flycatcher (10)
Pacific-slope Flycatcher (1)
Hutton's Vireo (3)
Warbling Vireo (10)
Red-eyed Vireo (11): 1 singing.
Violet-green Swallow (70)
Barn Swallow (100)
Black-capped Chickadee (20)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (60)
Bushtit (10)
Brown Creeper (2)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (10)
Swainson's Thrush (11)
Cedar Waxwing (50)
Yellow Warbler (9): 2 still singing.
Black-throated Gray Warbler (2)
Townsend's Warbler (1)
Wilson's Warbler (12)
Western Tanager (2)
Black-headed Grosbeak (2)
Evening Grosbeak (10)

Ben Griffith, from New Hampshire, arrived at noon and we were off to search
for the Black-tailed Gull for him. As others have written, however, the
afternoon has not been a great time to find the bird lately, probably due to
tides and human disturbance. We gave the flock a good scan at 3:00. When we
returned later to check again, every last gull had been flushed out to the
offshore sandy island by a very zealous dog. Between those two visits, we
did have some good birding elsewhere.

TOKELAND MARINA (4:00-4:45):
Lesser Yellowlegs (1)
Willet (2)
Whimbrel (10)
Bar-tailed Godwit (1)
Marbled Godwit (450)
Short-billed Dowitcher (12)

MIDWAY BEACH (5:15-6:00)
Sooty Shearwater (10,000)
Sanderling (20): almost completely alternate plumage.
Red-necked Phalarope (1)
Pomarine Jaeger (1ad.)

The Foothills Trail is also one of the more reliable spots I know of for
Red-breasted Sapsucker, a bird Ben needed. So, early Monday morning (16
August) we headed down there. It took almost 20 minutes, but we did easily
find a sapsucker. Bird numbers were quite different from the day before.

FOOTHILLS TRAIL (6:50-8:30)
Red-breasted Sapsucker (2)
Downy Woodpecker (7)
Western Wood-Pewee (3)
Willow Flycatcher (10)
Hutton's Vireo (1)
Warbling Vireo (18)
Red-eyed Vireo (12)
Black-capped Chickadee (30)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (40)
Bushtit (55)
Swainson's Thrush (10)
Orange-crowned Warbler (2)
Yellow Warbler (10)
Black-throated Gray Warbler (8)
Wilson's Warbler (17)
Western Tanager (3)
Black-headed Grosbeak (4)
Evening Grosbeak (1)

We met up with Ryan Merrill mid-morning and headed to eastern Washington. At
Snoqualmie Pass there were few birds at mid-day. Stampede Pass was also
slower than it should have been, but after much pygmy-owl tooting we managed
to call in some birds.

SNOQUALMIE PASS (11:30-11:45)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (1)
Black Swift (15)
Rufous Hummingbird (8)

STAMPEDE PASS (12:15-1:15)
Black Swift (5)
Cassin's Vireo (1)
American Dipper (1)
MacGillivray's Warbler (3)

We headed straight on to Vantage looking mainly for Chukars. It was quite
hot, but we walked all around and finally flushed eight of them on the shore
of the Columbia River. That was definitely the first time I've seen these
game birds flying over water.

GINKGO/HUNTZINGER ROAD (4:00-6:00)
Chukar (11)
Common Loon (2)
Common Nighthawk (12)
White-throated Swift (0?!)
Warbling Vireo (1)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (2)
Orange-crowned Warbler (2)
Nashville Warbler (1)
Yellow Warbler (8)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (7)
--
Mink (1): swimming up the Columbia River!
Western Skink (1)

On the way back, along I-90 at some ponds near Ellensburg were three
American Avocets flying together. In the evening we made another stop at
Stampede Pass hoping that activity would have picked up. It was indeed much
more active, and we managed to locate a Townsend's x Hermit Warbler (very
bright male), a Green Heron (rare on the eastside), and a Hammond's
Flycatcher (target bird for Ben).

That's all for now
cheers and good birding,
Charlie Wright
Bonney Lake, Washington