Sat. Dec. 3, 2005 Marv Breece and I birded from Washougal to Bingen along the Columbia River. We 1'st stopped at Franz Lake NWR where there were 300 + Tundra Swans, 3 Canvasbacks, Wood Ducks, 2 Slate-colored type Fox Sparrows-rare for this time of year, and a Red-breasted Sapsucker. A quick stop at Skamania Landing produced a flock of Pine Siskins, 2 Tundra Swans, Green-winged Teal, Hooded Mergansers, plus the commoner birds.

Our next stop was at Hamilton Island where we found 1 Merlin and 1 ad. Bald Eagle. Below Bonneville Dam was 6 species of gulls (Bonaparte's, Mew, Ring-billed, California, Herring, and Glaucous-winged). As we were sorting gulls an ad. Peregrine Falcon came swooping in and stirred the gulls to give us in-flight looks in case we might have missed something good. Above the dam we checked out the Western Grebe flock that hangs out there and noted both goldeneyes there along with Common Mergansers. The White-winged Scoter which had been there a few weeks back was gone.

At Stevenson we found 5 Greater White-fronted Geese hanging out with the domestic geese. Farther east just entering Home Valley we pulled off and check a secluded small bay south of the highway with a tug boat where Horned Grebes shared this bay with a Common Loon. This was just west of the mill. Varied Thrushes were feeding along the road into Spring Creek Hatchery and a large flock of California Quail were scattered along the road in 10 inches of snow trying to find food up in Underwood.

We ended the day in Klickitat County where we had a young Prairie Falcon at the Bingen Marina. Balch Lake and Lyle were quite dead except for a small White-crowned/Golden-crowned Sparrow flock below Lyle.

Ken Knittle
Washington Birder
2604 NE 80th Street
Vancouver, WA 98665
360-574-2590
mail to: washingtonbirder at hotmail.com<mailto:washingtonbirder at hotmail.com>