Subject: early migrants
Date: Feb 4 18:22:18 2004
From: Hill - hill at cbnn.net


In this year of wintering birds that normally don't (swallows, etc.) while ice continues to cover most of our Columbia Basin waters, spring migrants are already showing up. Last weekend Doug Schonewald made an incredible discovery of a Baird's Sandpiper at Moses Lake. Today's Western Bluebirds near the Frenchman Wasteway were not exceptional, but maybe a month earlier than normal. All 7 bluebirds were males, which makes me think they were migrants rather than over-wintering.

Randy Hill
Othello
hill at cbnn.net