Subject: Lincoln Co. Winter Bird Route
Date: Feb 1 20:39:27 2004
From: gina sheridan - gsherida8502 at yahoo.com


On Thursday (1/29/04), Joyce Alonso, Harold & Karen
Cottet and I did the complete Lincoln Co. Winter Bird
Route as is detailed in the new "A Birder's Guide to
Washington". Although the weather was decent in
Spokane, we were dismayed to find ourselves enveloped
in a thick blanket of fog on the West Plains.
Visibility was so poor that we couldn't tell where the
snow covered fields began and where the sky ended. In
spite of these poor conditions, we managed to stumble
on to a few interesting birds.

Small numbers of SNOW BUNTINGS were widely encountered
throughout the route (Stroup Rd. in Spokane, Co., and
Lincoln Co. locations along Four Corners, Zeimantz,
and Detour Roads). Large flocks of Horned larks
consisted of both the yellow merrilli race as well as
the pale arcticola race. We saw three Northern
Shrikes, five Rough-legged Hawks, No. Harrier, and few
Kestels.

The most abundant bird of the day had to have been
Gray Partridge. The Huns were eveywhere! We were
rarely out of sight of them. We saw well 100+ Huns for
the day.

Unfortunately, we simply could not turn a Snowy Owl.
Of course, the poor visibility greatly reduced our
odds of finding this sought after species.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA



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