On Saturday (8/20/05), I birded southern Pend Oreille
County from the Newport area to around Calispell Lake.
My expectations were higher than my actual success,
but I still managed to find a few interesting species.


At dawn, the temperature was 39 degrees but rose to
the upper eighties by mid-afternoon (50 degree
difference!). Aside from the chilly morning, the
golden tinted leaves of Western Balsam Poplars
(cottonwoods) manifested early hints of fall.

Although I tried to relocate birds that had been seen
a couple of weeks earlier by Mark Houston etal, I
dipped on the Canyon Wren at Lake of the Woods and the
Lark Sparrow on Tweedle Road. However, I saw plenty of
Western and Mountain Bluebirds, Chipping Sparrows,
Savannah Sparrows, etc. Cassin's and Red-eyed Vireos
were still singing along LeClerc Road.

The reservation marsh didn't produce much more than a
few Lesser Yellowlegs, Sora, and Gray Catbird.
Shorebirds were hard to come by.

When I birded Calispell Lake, I found the best birds
of the day. Some of the goodies were RED-NECKED
PHALAROPE -5 (county lifer), FORSTER'S TERN -1 (county
lifer) , BLACK TERN - 1, WHITE PELICAN - 7, STILT
SANDPIPER - 3 (county lifer, is this a county first?),
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER-2, SORA-1, and both species of
yellowlegs. Finally, I saw a SOLITARY SANDPIPER from
the bridge that crosses Calispell Creek.

Today (8/22/05), Bart Whelton and I birded Washtucna.
We ran into Mark Houston and Howard Armstrong there
too.

After a slow start, Bart and I found a significant
number of migrants in the brushy draws, and trees
south of Bassett Park. Flycatcher were extremely well
represented by GRAY FLYCATCHER -2, DUSKY FLYCATCHER
-4, HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER-3, WILLOW FLYCATCHER -1,
LEAST FLYCATCHER (called), W. WOOD PEWEE, EASTERN
KINGBIRD-4, and OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER -1 (near the
parking lot). Warblers consisted of TOWNSEND'S,
ORANGE-CROWNED, NASHVILLE, MACGILLIVRAY'S, YELLOW,
YELLOW-RUMPED, and WILSON'S.

We saw a nice LINCOLN'S SPARROW, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW
-2, BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, HOUSE WREN, ROCK WREN, CANYON
WREN, COOPER'S HAWK, SHAPR-SHINNED HAWK, and numerous
WARBLING VIREOs. While two EURASIAN COLLARED DOVEs
landed on the silver swingset, RUFOUS and CALLIOPE
HUMMINGBIRDs zipped around a butterfly garden.

One hummingbird gave us pause as potential
Broad-tailed. As this hummer perched, it fanned out
it's tail a couple of times to reveal a broad white
border. The throat appeared evenly spotted and the
sides were buffy, but we never did the back side of
the tail pattern to be sure.

When Bart and I stopped in at the Hatton Coulee rest
area, we didn't see any passerine migrants. However,
there were some good shorebirds present on the
remaining mud flats of the pond. We saw STILT
SANDPIPER-1, SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER-2, LEAST
SANDPIPER-1, WESTERN SANDPIPER-20, KILDEER-10, and
BAIRD'S SANDPIPER -12.
There was a PRAIRIE FALCON on I-90 and another one on
395 (Adams Co.).

Even though, we did not have any mega rarities, I
still picked up 15 county lifers to my Adams Co. list.
The Eurasian Collared Dove was a state lifer for Bart
and Howard.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA

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