After reading yesterday's posts on the Scissor-tailed
Flycatcher and Sabine's Gull, Harold & Karen Cottet,
and I ventured out to Grant County to try our luck
with these rarities. When we arrived (noon), there
were a gaggle of birders scanning the distant
fenceline. Although the Dennys spotted the flycatcher
as it glided out on the horizon, most of the rest of
us missed it. After waiting in vain for a
reappearance, most of us split up and began cruising
the area. Harold and I finally spotted the bird on a
light pole along the lombardy poplar treeline (200
yards north of Tyndall Road), but we soon lost it.

After some deliberation, we decided to visit Soap Lake
and then try again for the Scissor-tailed later in the
afternoon. East Beach held little of interest, but we
hit pay dirt on the north end of Soap Lake. On the
far shoreline, I spotted a dark-hooded gull with a
much darker back than the nearby Ring-Bills. Some
brief rain showers pelted us and hindered our views.
Fortunately, the showers passed, and the dark-hooded
gull moved directly behind the small island where
contingent of Ring-bills were roosting. The lighting
had vastly improved, and we could see a light tip on
the bill. In addition, the bird flew a short distance
and flashed us that wonderfully diagnostic wing
pattern of a SABINE'S GULL. This was an adult bird
that was just beginning to molt.

On our return to the flycatcher site, we followed Andy
& Ellen Stepneiwski, and couple of other birders out
to the airport fenceline. We enjoyed wonderful views
of the adult SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER as it caught
and consumed a dragonfly. The bird contently perched
on the barbed wire perimeter fence in the company of a
pair of meadowlarks.

The unsettled weather gave us one other spectacular
show on our return to trip to Spokane, Approximately
twenty-five miles east of Moses Lake, we saw rather
intense storm cell to the southeast. Shafts of a
broken rainbow appeared scattered across the eastern
horizon and a white funnel cloud stretched out from
the dark storm clouds like some kind of wicked
umbilical cord. A significant debris cloud on the
surface indicated that the funnel cloud had indeed
touched down.

Although I have seen plenty of dust devils out in the
Basin, this is the first time that I have ever seen an
actual tornado on the ground. The rope-like tornado
was so white that it actually looked pretty against
the ominous, dark storm clouds that had spawned it.
Fortunately, it was spinning around an uninhabited
area of the steppe and died out after a few minutes.

We netted two new state birds and enjoyed a dramatic
view of a tornado from a safe distance. We certainly
enjoyed nature at it's finest!

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA





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