Hello,

At 6:30 Pm this evening ( 23 April), Ellen and I studied 4 Baird's Sandpipers at the saline ponds on the Grant/Adams County line on SR-26 west of Othello. These birds appeared in breeding plumage. This was only my 2nd spring observation of this species in the Pacific Northwest (the other was a lone individual on Beecher Prairie near Riske Creek on the Brtitish Columbia Chilcotin Plateau, 22 May 2002).

These ponds were hopping with shorebirds today. Here's the total tally:

Killdeer - 10
Black-necked Stilt - 15
American Avocet - 8
Greater Yellolegs - 2
Lesser Yellowlegs - 4
Least Sandpiper - 30
Baird's Sandpiper - 4
Dunlin - 20
Wilson's Snipe - 2, nearby fields
Wilson's Phalarope - 3

We saw and heard at least 8 Long-billed Curlews in the grasslands by Seeps Road in Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, a great spot for this species, as Bob Flores mentioned in a recent post. As Bob also reported, there were Grasshopper Sparrows singing in the weedy grasslands there; we heard five or so. Are these birds migrants or summer residents in this spot? Seems a tad weedy in my experience, so I'm curious.

While I'm reporting, there were 11 Sandhill Cranes high over Sentinel Gap at 2 PM today, soaring and flapping north.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA
steppie at nwinfo.net