Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I checked several areas in northern Lewis Co. to eastern Grays Harbor Co. mainly in search of dragonflies along with butterflies encountered and some birding made at most of the locations. Our main target of the day of primary concern was to relocate Pale Snaketail,which was recently added to the Lewis Co. list by another observer and has been recorded in only 3 western WA counties to this date. We covered areas beginning east of Centralia at Schaefer Co. Park along the Skookumchuck River then continuing along Big Hanaford Rd. to the Centralia Steam Plant,where we encountered 4 species of shorebirds. Continuing north and west we traveled along Hwy.12 to the Black River in the extreme eastern portion of Grays Harbor Co.,then continued along Hwy.12 to the Elma area. The weather remained very warm beginning with mostly clear sunny skies early in the day turning to mostly cloudy skies during the latter portion of day,which made conditions very humid. During the entire day we encountered a total of 11 species of dragonflies and 9 species of butterflies,which were all observed from various locations. Notable bird species for the day included the following:

Pied-billed Grebe
1 family at the Centralia Steam Plant

Am.Bittern
1 at the Centralia Steam Plant

Green Heron
1 at Schaefer Co. Park
1 along I-5 over Capitol Lake near Tumwater

Turkey Vulture
5 over the Centralia Steam Plant
3 over Centralia
2 over Schaefer Co. Park(east of Centralia)
4 along Hwy.12 east of Rochester,Thurston Co.
3 over Hwy.12 near Elma
2 over Hwy.8 east of McCleary

Osprey
1 pair along Big Hanaford Rd. west of the Centralia Steam Plant
1 pair along Hwy.12 near Elma

Bald Eagle
2 at Schaefer Co. Park
2 along Hwy.12 east of Oakville
1 along Hwy.12 near Elma
1 along Hwy.101 and I-5(Capitol Lake)

Northern Harrier
1 at the Centralia Steam Plant

Cooper's Hawk
1 along Hwy.12 west of Rochester
1 along Hwy.12 east of Oakville

California Quail
12 near Schaefer Co. Park

Spotted Sandpiper
7 at the Centralia Steam Plant
1 Howanut Rd. near Oakville

Least Sandpiper
13 at the Centralia Steam Plant

Long-billed Dowitcher
9 at the Centralia Steam Plant

Mourning Dove
2 at Schaefer Co. Park
14 northeast of Elma

Vaux's Swift
5 at Centralia

Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 along Halladay Rd. west of the Centralia Steam Plant

Red-eyed Vireo
3 at Schaefer Co. Park

Black-headed Grosbeak
3 at Schaefer Co. Park

Bullock's Oriole
2 at Schaefer Co. Park



Dragonflies:

Boreal Bluet
Pacific Forktail
River Jewelwing
Blue-eyed Darner
Common Green Darner
Pale Snaketail(collected at Schaefer Co. Park and along the Black River west of Rochester)
Eight-spotted Skimmer
Common Whitetail
Blue Dasher
Cardinal Meadowhawk
Striped Meadowhawk


Butterflies:

Western Tiger Swallowtail
Anise Swallowtail
Western White
Margined White
Cabbage White
Satyr Comma(Anglewing)
Painted Lady
Lorquin's Admiral
Common Wood Nymph



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net