My father and I enjoyed a weekend of birding in central and southeast
Washington this weekend. We started out about 2pm on Friday (7/29/05).
After not seeing much anything at the Sprague Sewer Ponds, we drove down to
NW Whitman County to see what we could find.

At Sheep Lake, we observed:
Killdeer -2 adults and 2 chicks
Greater Yellowlegs -2
Baird's Sandpiper -2
Hooded Merganser -1
Ring-necked Duck -1
Eared Grebe -3
American White Pelican -2
Grasshopper Sparrow -1
Savanna Sparrow -1

At Crooked Knee Lake there were more shorebirds:
Greater Yellowlegs -15
Lesser Yellowlegs -3
Wilson's Phalarope -3
Least Sandpiper -3
Killdeer -5
Spotted Sandpiper -1
Solitary Sandpiper -1
Trumpeter Swan -1 on east side of the road

After this great start, we headed on down I-90 to the Moses Lake area. At
North Potholes (or Potholes Rookery), birds were very abundant all around,
some highlights being:
Lark Sparrow -10 on the road coming in
American White Pelican -150
Double-crested Cormorant -200, flying over in flocks
Great Egret -40
Black-crowned Night-Heron -2
Caspian Tern -24
Black Tern -2
Ring-billed Gull -60
California Gull -3
Pied-billed Grebe -3
Western Grebe -10
Blue-winged Teal -15
Bank Swallows were the most numerous swallows
Least Sandpiper -12
Western Sandpiper -5
Lesser Yellowlegs -12
Greater Yellowlegs -1
Spotted Sandpiper -3
Wilson's Phalarope -4
Killdeer -6
Semipalmated Plover -1
Black-necked Stilt -7

We made a quick stop at Perch Point in the evening (7:30-8pm), where we
observed the following highlights:
Least Sandpiper -6
Semipalmated Sandpiper -5
Western Sandpiper -35
Spotted Sandpiper -3
Greater Yellowlegs -4
Killdeer -5
Semipalmated Plover -2
BLack-necked Stilt -6 flying by
BLack-crowned Night-Heron -3
Caspian Tern -3 among Ring-billed Gulls
Forster's Tern -4
Bonaparte's Gull -5 (1 alternate, 3 transitional, & 1 basic plumage)

A quick look at Lind Coulee from about 8:10pm-8:30pm produced some more
birds:
Least Sandpiper -7
Semipalmated Sandpiper -2
Spotted Sandpiper -3
Killdeer -4
Caspian Tern -4
Black-crowned Night-Heron -1
Northern Shoveler -1
Common Nighthawk -1 heard

As we drove into Potholes State Park to lay out our mats for the night (and
try to sleep with all the noisy people!), we sighted a Barn Owl flying
through the twilight.

This report will be continued in 2 more posts, but I am posting by each day
to make for shorter posts. ^_^

Good birding!

Michael and Roger Woodruff
Spokane, WA

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