Hello Tweets and Inlander NW birders,

Today my mother and I traveled over to Washtucna in Adams Co. in search of the previously reported Black-throated Green Warbler with great success,as the bird was quite cooperative for up to 20 birders during our visit at Bassett Park. We arrived at Washtucna at 6:30am and patiently waited for conditions to get lighter and after a short walk of the grounds of Bassett Park the Black-throated Green Warbler was located at 7:45am along the gravel road immediately north of the grassy park area.The bird was observed with 3 Dark-eyed"Oregon"Juncos,but tended to stay by itself,as it actively foraged in the canopy of several small deciduous trees bordering the road.The bird called several times from trees,which later proved to be an easy locater in finding the bird without seeing it. We watched the bird until 8:10am,as well as obtained our first series of photographs of the bird until it flew into a dense portion of the park and could not be relocated until a few other birders arrived at approximately 9:15am. The bird was then located flying fairly high above the park before landing in a stand of popular trees,then closer into view in a lower patch of willow trees. The bird continued actively foraging in a stand of willow just east of the swimming pool area before it flew into the main portion of the Bassett Park,as it was then detected in several large Cottonwood trees. We continued watching the bird and keeping close track on it,as it moved from branch to branch,then to other trees maintaining it's fairly high elevation in the trees. In all observations the bird associated by itself and for this reason was often east to detect in the taller trees,as well as giving it's distinctive call note,which most birders were able to hear. The bird also at times foraged lower in trees offering the best views and photographs to be taken of it. By 10am more birders arrived and for many was located almost on their arrival with a short walk from the parking area,but the bird did remain very active and occasionally would be somewhat difficult to locate,especially when it perched motionless on tree branches. It was truly an exciting bird for most everyone to see and it seemed to have a somewhat routine in where it foraged and hopefully many other birders will get to see it,as it continues.

By 11am the skies began to clear and temperatures warmed to nearly balmy conditions,which was very comfortable given the time of year. After watching the Black-throated Green Warbler for some time several birders walked the side streets in short distance of Bassett Park in search of other target species,despite some of us being less fortunate of seeing. As we walked along several back streets a few of the residents were very warm and open to our presence and offered nice conversation,which was worthwhile. A list of additional highlights encountered by my mother and I included the following(excluding a few species seen by others):

2 Northern Harriers
2 Sharp-shinned Hawks
2 Cooper's Hawks
7 Red-tailed Hawks
2 Am.Kestrels
1 Merlin
1 Great Horned Owl
3 Downy Woodpeckers
30+ Northern "Red-shafted"Flickers
1 Say's Phoebe
2 Horned Larks
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Brown Creeper
7 Canyon Wrens
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Townsend's Solitaire
1 Hermit Thrush
18+ Varied Thrushes
1 Bohemian Waxwing
1 adult Northern Shrike
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Spotted Towhee
1 Am.Tree Sparrow
1 Golden-crowned Sparrow
5+ Red Crossbills
4 Common Redpolls
9 Pine Siskins

A very BIG thank you to Bill and Nancy LaFromboise for finding the Black-throated Green Warbler and for yet another exciting bird!

My mother and I have placed 6 photographs of the Black-throated Green Warbler onto our website,which can be accessed at the following link: http://www.pbase.com/godwit/little/


After leaving Washtucna we worked our way home with a fairly short stop made at Vantage at 3:15pm from several locations along the Columbia River south to Wanapum State Park. Extremely good numbers of waterbirds were most apparent,of which we obtained our highlights from including the following:

3 Eared Grebes
3 Am.White Pelicans
2 Greater White-fronted Geese
1 adult Snow Goose(amongst very large numbers of Canada Geese south of I-90)
1 Surf Scoter
3 White-winged Scoters
3 Bonaparte's Gulls
2 Northern Shrikes

Or last highlight of the day was a single Surf Scoter observed swimming in a large pond along I-90 at MP 113.3 near Kittitas along with a2 Rough-legged Hawks hunting open farmland areas along I-90.


A very nice day in eastern Washington!



Good birding,

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