Doug and others with a hanker'n to hike in the sagebrush desert,

Last weekend I drove across the Vantage Bridge (I live in Ellensburg) to the
old Vantage highway where it goes down to the river on the east side. About
midway down there is an area where folks rock climb and then a bit furthur
there is a fish and game turn out. Heading south (hiking without trail),
there is a large sand dune. I watch for days in the 40's in Ellensburg in
February as it is generally 10 degrees warmer down along the columbia river
and on that sunny side of the river. The dunes are actually warm and it give
a refreshing feel to the long winters over on this side of the state.

Anyway, I did not get a good look, but there was a large (40-50) flock of
birds coming in to the sand dunes. They landed over and over again sometimes
within 50 feet from my nephew and I. I did not ID them as I was exploring
the dunes and did not take my binoculars. But they were sparrow sized birds.
I am assuming the warm sand maybe heated up the bugs??? I don't know, but
they were certainly after something and flew around the area for over an
hour while we were there.

Just thought I would let folks know if anyone is up to a walk in the
sagebrush country. It was about a mile in with little or no trail. You can
see the dune from the road in the distance up against the basalt cliff
(small waterfall there too). If someone goes and id's those birds, I would
sure like to know what they were.

-Ken



>From: "Doug Schonewald" <dschone8 at donobi.net>
>Reply-To: dschone8 at donobi.net
>To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>Subject: 2/29 Frenchman Hills Road
>Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 21:11:33 -0800
>
>Hi Tweets,
>
> Yesterday Bob Flores and I spent the better part of a day searching the
>thickets all along Frenchman Hills Road and Road 'C' SE. These areas
>comprise large expanses of Russian-olive thickets interspaced with
>grassland, sand dunes, and marshlands.
> Several highlights were noted during the day of birding.
> Our first highlight was observed on Road 'C' SE (a few miles to the west
>of
>Potholes State Park) when a few sparrows flew across the road in front of
>us
>and we were able to observe a SAGE SPARROW perched on a sage bush. It is
>assumed that they are migrating through at this time and will not breed in
>the area, but I will continue to monitor the area in hopes of locating
>evidence of breeding activity. A pair of Great Horned Owls have set up
>housekeeping on the north side of Frenchman Wasteway along Rd 'C' SE.
> Other highlights included a single SWAMP SPARROW which was located north
>of
>the junction of SR-262 and Frenchman Hills Road along Frenchman Wasteway.
>Also present in a wide area of Frenchman Wasteway were 4 Greater
>Yellowlegs.
>This of note due to the increasing numbers of over wintering Greater
>Yellowlegs in the interior. An early (or perhaps over wintering) Great
>Egret
>was also present at this site.
> A large foraging flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers were observed near
>Birder's Corner in the Russian-olives. This flock numbered nearly 70 birds,
>all of the Audubon race. Spring is almost here!
>
>Cheers
>
>Doug Schonewald
>Moses Lake, WA
>dschone8 at donobi.net
>
>

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