When Matt Bartels told me about his successful quest while we were looking
at the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at Soap Lake, I decided to make a dash for Mt.
Salmo. I arrived at the spot at 3:45pm. The first thing I heard when I got
out of the car, was a deafening shot, followed by a series of more shots
from real close. I right then knew that this had been an ill-fated attempt.
I hadn't done my research as hunting season had started that day. I searched
the ridge carefully, even returned the next morning. The conditions were
treacherous Sunday morning, I was glad to make it down the mountain safely.
I suspect that the owl has (at least temporarily) relocated to a quieter
spot. I was not really looking for any of the boreal species, but found 2
large flocks of Red Crossbills on FR 2220 between MM 6 and 8.

Other highlights of my trip included the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at East
Beach in Soap Lake (Saturday, and Sunday at about 3:30pm). This bird
fattened up quite a bit, the Pecs look quite slim in comparison. This way it
will either be able to fly twice around the globe with all those fat
reserves or not be able to take flight at all. There also was a Dunlin at
the beach on Sunday.

Brooks Lake (off 26, just east of Stratford Rd) had about 10,000 geese of
the Canada variety with many of them being Cackling. There were also about
12 Snow Geese and 3 White Pelicans mixed in.

I did not find the Lesser Black-backed Gull at Sun Lakes SP on Sunday at
around 4:45pm. On neither day, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was present.
Just south of the intersection of Tyndall & Randolph, a nice-looking Prairie
Falcon offered me good looks as it was perched on a pole.

Stefan Schlick
Bellevue, WA

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