On Saturday (11/21/04), Garrett MacDonald and I took
advantage of a beautiful late fall day and visited
Whitman County and the Lewiston, ID area. Although
birding was somewhat slow at times, we did see some of
our target birds.

Our first stop was at Tom and Diane Webers in Pullman.
As the four of us walked around the neighborhood, we
saw SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (new Whitman county bird for
both of us), RED CROSSBILL, TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, and
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET. The Weber platform feeder
hosted such bold RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES that we had
to duck when the birds flew in and out.

After following their calls for a while, we finally
had excellent views of three BLUE JAYs (new Whitman
county bird for both of us). This is the third
Washington county that I have encountered Blue Jays
this year.

Unfortunately, our big dip of the day was the Lewiston
Cattle Egret. Although, we made several passes along
that highway median both in the morning and the
afternoon as well as scanning the adjacent area, we
could not find the bird.

At the Grain Elevator 2 area on the Clearwater River,
there were sizable flocks of both BARROW'S & COMMON
GOLDENEYS and too many fishing boats.

When we crossed back over the state line along the
Snake River, we birded the Port of Wilma area. Some of
the new Whitman County birds for us included COMMON
GOLDENEYE, COMMON LOON, HERRING GULL, and
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW.

Fortunately, we did happen to join up with Canyon
Audubon trip for while. As a result, Garrett and I saw
the pair of EURASIAN WIDGEON and the female
LONG-TAILED DUCK on West Pond. We really enjoyed
seeing eight BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS (three adults
and five immatures) and the MERLIN on the north end of
Kiwanis Park. The Long-tailed Duck and the BC Night
Heron were both new state birds for us.

Mann Lake did not contain any shorebirds, but there
was an immature TUNDRA SWAN, COMMON LOON, and some
HOODED MERGANSERS among some the more usual fare. We
didn't find any owls at the Spalding picnic area this
time.

We had three NORTHERN SHRIKEs for the day. One was in
Whitman County on the highway north of Colfax, another
one on Bever Grade above Lapwai, and one more in
Coyote Gulch.


After a final stop at the Terry and Christine Gray's,
we headed home. It was a productive trip, and we
enjoyed visiting with some good birder friends too.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA

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