Hi Tweeters-
A little slow on the reporting, but here are a couple Eastern WA
sightings from Sunday & Monday [2/27-28].
Best of all, on Monday morning, I enjoyed watching GREATER
SAGE-GROUSE at the Leahy Cutoff Rd site. I arrived at 6:00 and the
males were already out, booming & visible in the growing light. In
the next hour, I saw as many as 13 at once, stretched out along the
ridge to the NW from the road. By 7:00, when I left, there were only
a handful still strutting about, so if you plan a similar visit don't
arrive much later than that.
Location: Delorme, p. 85 A/B-5; WA ABA p. 385

Other sightings:
Old Vantage Hwy (Sunday morning):[Delorme p.51 A 6-8, WA ABA p. 289-90]
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD - 2 around mp 18.
SAGE SPARROW - several, singing along the way.
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE - 2, one at the Quilome Wildlife Area, one at the
pull-off .2-.3 miles west of mp24.

I tried to find the Tufted Duck south of Vantage, but was
unsuccessful. Lots of Greater Scaup to sort through in morning sun
coming from the east though, so I suspect it was in there somewhere.

Steamboat Rock SP: (Sunday afternoon) [Delorme, p. 85 B-7; WA ABA p. 393-4]
LONG-EARED OWL - one definitely, maybe a second in the olive trees
noted in the WA ABA guidebook.
AM. TREE SPARROWS - a few present in the same olive grove.

Waterville Plateau: (Monday) [Delorme p. 84 ~A/B-3/4, WA ABA p. 384-7]
Many of the usual stops on the plateau were pretty quiet yesterday.
Only scattered HORNED LARKs, no big flocks.
I spent a couple hours in the Wells Wildlife area hoping to stumble
across Sharp-tailed Grouse, to no avail.

On Central Ferry Canyon Rd., there were a couple nice flocks of PYGMY
NUTHATCH with WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, MTN & BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES
mixed in.

Final notable sighting:
TOWNSENDS SOLITAIRE: At the riverside city park, in Pateros, Okanogan
Co. [Delorme p. 100 D-1]

On the way back to Seattle from there, I stopped at Lake Chelan SP
(good quantities of common forest species) [Delorme p. 83 B-7, WA ABA
p. 420]and South Cle Elum (no Evening Grosbeaks, but still tons of
Robins).






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