Hi Tweeters,

At 10:00 this morning I saw one, and possibly two, White-rumped Sandpipers
at the Tyson (Iowa Beef) ponds accessed on the gravel road running
southwest from Dodd-Iowa Beef Road near Wallula. The distance and heat
waves made identification difficult and photography impossible. I was
fortunate to watch the positively-identified White-rumped Sandpiper
preening for several minutes, which gave me quite a few views of the white
rump. The possible second WRSA was tentatively identified based on looking
identical to the positively identified one when they were foraging on the
mudflat on the edge of the second-from-the-east pond. The first pond is
nearly dry.

The WRSA was quite a bit darker overall than the adult-plumaged Western
Sandpipers that were foraging nearby. It had a noticeably darker crown
with no rust color.

Along with these two were about six Western Sandpipers and four or five
Least Sandpipers.

These ponds have produced an incredible list of birds, including some
wonderful rarities. It would be nice if a delagation of local birders, or
possibly WOS members or the board, would approach Tyson to try to get
permission for birders to be able to get closer to the ponds. There isn't
anything between the road and the ponds but cheat grass and star
thistle. Just a thought.

I tried for but did not see the Broad-tailed Hummingbird at Dixie or the
collared-dove at Washtucna. I drove west from Washtucna to Connell and saw
one immature Ferruginous Hawk and one immature Swainson's Hawk.

Denny Granstrand
Yakima, WA

* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* dgranstrand at charter.net *
* Denny's bird photos can be seen online at: *
http://granstrand.net/gallery/