The bugs squished all over my car are clear evidence that spring is
here. I drove from Seattle Saturday morning and birded my way to
Spokane for a look at the Great-tailed Grackle. Notable species
include:

Pacific-slope flycatchers along Tinkham Rd.
NO Grey Jay at Alpental :(
Mountain Bluebird - Elk Heights

It should be noted that the access road just off the Rosyln exit on
I-90 described in Birders guide to Washington is now closed for the
public. A stoplight and friendly man in the booth told me to turn
around. He also said there were three other birders had tried the
same thing earlier. Continuing up towards Rosyln:

WESTERN TANAGER - In the pines across from Bass Ponds

In Spokane there was some race going on called Bloomsday which closed
down a lot all the streets and my attempts to get out of the city
tough. Once I did get out I located the GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE. It was
really odd to see it so far from it's normal habitat.

Next I went looking for a Grasshopper Sparrow on the Waterville
Plateau. I went to the site described in Opperman as the "Grasshopper
Sparrow" site and while I didn't see any GRSP I did see several
BREWERS'S SPARROWS. Also in the area were WESTERN KINGBIRD and SAYS
PHOBE.

>From there I drove to the Para Ponds and saw all the usual action
there. I ended the day at County Line ponds and got great looks at
several Wilson's Phalarope in full breeding plumage, knockout!

A lot of driving and even more great birds.

Aaron Martin
Seattle, WA