Tweets - I've been birding with Kraig and Cathy Kemper this weekend in
Douglas, Okanogan, and Grant counties (so far).

The last 24 hours or so have been extreemly good. It started Friday evening
with a couple of hundred SANDHILL CRANES massing at various spots on Cameron
Lake Rd. southeast of Okanogan in Ok Co. We got many great looks at a few
birds at fairly close range, and saw big flocks in flight. We also saw
CLIFF SWALLOWS along that road.

Saturday, we began at the Leahey (sp) Jct. grouse lek, where we counted 13
male and at least 4 female GREATER SAGE-GROUSE. There were no clouds in the
sky and no wind, so we got to see and hear the lek very well. When the sun
came over the horizon, the males fairly sparkled, and we could clearly see
them strut their stuff and blow up their ridiculous yellow air sacs. It was
great.

Later this morning, we headed up Central Ferry Canyon (Douglas Co., across
the river from Brewster). There we had a male WESTERN BLUEBIRD, and at
least 3 male and maybe a female BLUE GROUSE. The grouse were booming, and
we were close enough to see the yellow/orange eye crescents and the
yellow/orange air sacs. Two great grouse sightings in one day!

We ended the day at Wilson Creek, Grant Co., where we twice observed
FERUGINOUS HAWK, once on each side of the valley. Absolutely fantastic!
We're heading back there tomorrow to search for Tricolored Blackbird.

The most notable thing about this trip has been how advanced Spring is here,
and how dry everything is. Ponds that are usually full of water have been
low or dry. This may be a rough summer over here unless some rains come.

More later -

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.scn.org/fomp/birding.htm
== hummer at isomedia.com