Tweets,

Taking advantage of today's (2/3/05) picture perfect
winter day (mild, mostly sunny, and calm), Karen &
Harold Cottet and I birded the northern half of Grant
County (from Grand Coulee to Moses Lake). After
enduring the last couple of weeks of tough birding in
the winter doldrums, we enjoyed a highly successful
trip.

Arriving in Grand Coulee at about 8:15AM, we checked
out city park along SR174. As I began walking down the
alley on the north side of this small but interesting
park, I heard the unmistakable call of a jay. An
eastern BLUE JAY suddenly blew in as conspicuous and
vociferous as possible. After enjoying some superb
view of the Blue Jay, we began sorting through the
juncos, Mt. Chickadees, House Finches, Pine Siskins,
Red Crossbills, etc., we noted a couple of large
finches that landed in a tall birch tree. We were
quite pleased to see that these birds were a pair of
female PINE GROSBEAKS. This was a great way to start
off the morning!

Since we didn't see any Bohemian Waxwings here, we
proceeded southward to Electric City. At the North
Dam, a 2-w GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL wheeled over the
water. Down to the south we scanned through a large
raft of ducks that contained HOODED MERGANSER, AME.
COOT, REDHEAD, GREATER & LESSER SCAUP, and COMMON
GOLDENEYE.

When we reached Coulee Playland marina, there were no
gulls sitting on the log booms. Instead, there was a
pair of BALD EAGLES perched in the cottonwoods. Over
the course of the day, we saw at least twenty BALD
EAGLES out on the ice or perched along the shoreline.

In the Sunlands Resort grounds, there was a multitude
of American Robins and twenty CEDAR WAXWINGS.
Unfortunately, we didn't see any Bohemians.

Checking the Russian Olives near the Steamboat Rock
State Park entrance road, we beheld a point blank view
of a LONG-EARED OWL that was roosting in typical
fashion, close to the tree trunk. Long-ears look so
impossibly thin that they seem to have been created by
an ornithological taffy pull.

After enjoying the view of the owl, we carefully
backed away and avoided flushing the bird. On the way
out, we saw two AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS. Later, we
spied a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE on the boat ramp entrance
road.

As we began scanning for gulls, we spotted a distant
flock on the far side of Bank's Lake from the second
pull-out south of Steamboat Rock entrance (half way
between mile marker 14 and 13). Despite the great
distance, the morning light was quite good. At 60x in
the Questar, I picked out one GLAUCOUS GULL roosting
on the ice. After viewing the distant bird for a
while, a second 1-w Glacous Gull arrived and walked
around for good advantage. This was a life bird for
the Cottets.

Near the southern end of Bank's Lake, we encountered a
large flock of gulls (100+) that were much closer to
the road. This flock contained THAYER'S GULLS (two 1-w
& one adult) MEW GULLS (1-w & one adult), HERRING
GULLS, CALIFORNIA GULLS, RING-BILLED GULLS, and a 2-w
GLAUCOUS GULL. This was truly banner day for winter
gulls.

As we were preparing to leave, a pair of GOLDEN EAGLEs
crested the coulee ridgeline. At East Beach in Soap
Lake, there was a contingent of CACKLING GEESE along
with usual Canadas. KILLDEER, RUDDY DUCKs and EARED
GREBES were present too.

Near the junction of 17 and the airport road, a MERLIN
was perched at the top of a Lombardy Poplar. Neppel
Landing was loaded with GADWALL, COOTS, CANADA GEESE,
TUNDRA SWAN - 1, GREEN-WINGED (American style only)
TEAL, RING-NECKED DUCK, AMERICAN WIDGEON, NO. PINTAIL,
CANVASBACK, COMMON MERGANSER, and MALLARDs. We saw one
NORTHERN HARRIER cruising up the slough.

In addition to racking up seven new species for my
Grant County list, the Cottets picked up three state
lifers (Golden Eagle, Pine Grosbeak, and Glaucous
Gull) and one ABA lifer (Glaucous Gull). This was one
fine day!

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA



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