Since the Webers reported some very good birds in the
Rose Creek Preserve (north of Pullman) last weekend, I
decided to bird it myself today (11/26/04). Although
it appeared that most of the good birds that they had
seen (i.e. Long-eared Owl, Varied Thrush, and Goshawk)
had already departed, I did see a couple of
interesting species.

Even though weather was brisk and sunny, very few
birds revealed themselves this morning. There were a
couple of Bewick's Wrens in the dense thicket, a few
RB Nuthatches, BC Chickadees, Red Crossbills, and a
lonely Townsend's Solitaire. The only sparrow that I
detected in the preserve was a weakly chipping Song
Sparrow.

Eventually, I did see three BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS stuffing
themselves with juniper berries. This was a new county
bird for me.

While on the loop trail, I was pretty sure that I
heard a Clark's Nutcracker calling in the distance,
but I didn't see it here. After I left Rose Creek, I
drove a couple of miles further west on Shawnee Road.
Finally, I ran into over a dozen CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS
just west of the junction of McIntosh Road. The
Ponderosa Pines in the area seemed to satisfy the
nutcrackers' post-Thanksgiving dinner plans.

On Kamiak Butte, there were several more Clark's
Nutcrackers on the Pine Loop Trail. Otherwise, this
park was really quiet.

Raptors of the day included numerous Red-tailed Hawks
(including a dark morph Harlan's on the Albion Palouse
Rd.), one ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (a couple of miles north
Pullman), three NO. HARRIERS, one NO. SHRIKE (on the
outskirts of Oakdale), and seven Kestrels.

After yesterday's sumptuous Thanksgiving Day feast, it
was nice to hike around and get some exercise.
Although birding was pretty slow, there were some nice
Whitman County birds to enjoy.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA



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