We were driving down the Lower Crab Creek Road after midnight, setting up the tent by the light of the full moon, a night bird calling in from across the field, a Common Poorwill? Still not sure. As I started to drift off I was brought back from sleep's edge by coyotes calling all around, the cows nearby added their opinion, and I finally drifted off once again.
I awoke to birdsong before dawn, not sure of what bird it was, in my sleepy state I noted that it wasn't the robins that usually wake me at home. I fell back into dream sleep and the bird song followed me there. I was walking along a creek with a couple of other birders, and hearing the song. "Listen", I'd say. A sparrow of some sort sang. "Not that..." The original song started again, ringing metallic in the air. "That. Meadowlark." Then the dream went off in strange directions, till I woke. The song was still there, metallic, penetrating and beautiful. Meadowlark, yes. Odd how I was able to identify it in my dream before I could while awake. I peaked out of the tent to see a Meadowlark in the rainy dawn light...singing with all it's might.

Driving towards Othello, full of excitement for the days birding adventures, I called hello to the magpies sitting on a wire. "Hiya Magie-pies, good to see ya again." I looked over to my husband, "Aren't they beautiful?!" He smiled and nodded. He seemed to be content to drive me all over Eastern Washington, as I called out birds, or demand he stop, NOW!, so I could get a better look at something I did not recognize. He often says that it's my excitement over things he enjoys, far more than the things themselves. Well, I was sure not to disappoint, this being our first time back to Eastern WA since the last spring. So many birds to see, so much excitement to share.

We found a spot to prepare breakfast near a lake. Or rather, my wonderful husband prepared breakfast while I wondered off... setting off a large amount of ducks, before I could identify them. A few stayed behind. Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Mallard, Canada Goose. Violet-green and Rough-winged Swallows put on their acrobatic show, swooping across the water, gobbling up a new hatch. A Kingfisher scolded as it flew overhead. Killdeer squabbled on the muddy shore. A pair of large hawks soared way over head, too high to identify. A pair of Ravens called back and forth. Starlings made their usual racket.

Back on the road again, we spotted a Kestrel on the wires, and played leap frog with it for a half a mile or so. During the whole trip we saw a total of 6 Kestrels. Ring-billed Gulls walked about in newly plowed fields. A lone Sandhill Crane flew high overhead, and I hoped it wouldn't be the only sighting of the trip. A Northern Harrier battled the wind, searching for breakfast over the rolling pasture land. Red-winged Blackbirds were perched on top of cattails, trying to out-sing one another. Occasionally a female perched nearby...who would she choose? We noticed a school bus pulled off on the side of the road ahead, and without any prompt from me, my husband pulled in behind it. It was Saturday, this bus was probably a bird tour in the happening. We finally spotted two Mourning Dove's in a tree... the only obvious object to draw so many eyes, at least that we could see.

When we arrived at the Corfu viewing area. My wish for more Sandhill Cranes was granted. Standing close in were a hundred or more cranes, looking a bit damp around the edges from the persistent rain. We watched them for quite sometime, and spoke with a couple of other birders. The women had it all right...with a scope set up on the driver's side...poking out the window while she stayed dry inside her car.

On our way again, working towards Para Ponds. Passed a lot of American Robins, Rock Pigeons, and American Crows . At the ponds, the weather seemed to have most of the blackbirds hiding out in the reeds with only a few Red-winged Blackbirds and even fewer Yellow-headed Blackbirds popping up to sing. I never did spot a tri-colored, try as I might. Canvasbacks, Redheads, Northern Pintail, American Coots, Northern Shovelers, and Buffleheads were all present. Cackling Geese hunkered down on the edge of the pond. Not a single shore bird was seen. However, between Para Ponds and the cut off for the wildlife refuge a Long-billed Curlew flew high overhead.

On the drive through the wildlife refuge we added Lesser Scaups, Common Merganser, Pied-billed Grebe, Ring-necked Duck, Great-Blue Heron, and Tree Swallows to the days list.

At Potholes State Park, where we ate our lunch in the dry climes of the car, we saw Brown Creeper, Western Gull, Song Sparrow, House Finch, California Quail, and Ring-neck Pheasant. We also spotted a Muskrat nibbling on vegetation in amongst some flooded willows.

We made our way towards some ponds off Dodson Road and some nearby lakes. When we arrived at the ponds, instead of birds, there were people. A local group had just put up duck nesting areas in the ponds. They apologized for scaring everything off and tried to be helpful with all sorts of suggestions as to where all the birds might have gone. I was fairly disappointed, being that we had had some incredible birds at this spot last spring. What timing! The rest of the lakes we checked out were fairly quiet, but we did see White-crowned Sparrow and a lone Merlin as we made our rounds.

We drove out past Warden and then took Johnson Rd back towards 26. We stopped as two Long-billed Curlews flew over the road and landed in a stubble field. It took a moment to find one again...I never did find the second one, they blend in so well! We watched the bird groom for a while and then tuck it's bill up into it's feathers for a quick "curlew-nap". Once on 26 again we found a spot where we could see what might have been Burrowing Owl burrows but never saw the owls.

We fixed dinner back at the Corfu area, waiting for the Cranes to give us some evening entertainment. While dinner cooked I went off to investigate an interesting call in the field across the highway. Three Long-billed Curlews were doing their best to imitate Killdeer...scurrying after one another and yollering.

We sat in chairs, during the only real dry spell of the day, eating spaghetti, and sipping a little wine, while the hundreds of Cranes and thousands of both Canada and Cackling Geese flooded the air with both body and sound as they moved in long lines and clusters off to the west towards the setting sun.

Maurie Kirschner
Olympia WA
outdoorchickerooatyahoo.com


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