On Saturday (4/01/06), Theresa Mathis, Cindy McCormack
and I birded northern Grant county and a bit of
Douglas County. The cool cloudy weather of the morning
deteriorated into cold showers and blustery winds in
the afternoon. In spite of the less than favorable
weather, we still enjoyed some good birding.

Our first significant birds of the day were present on
the North Dam. We noted a RED-NECKED GREBE along the
shore and three soaring TURKEY VULTUREs over the
bluffs on the Douglas County side.

Coulee Playland produced a GLAUCOUS-WINGED X HERRING
GULL hybrid, HERRING GULL, and RING-BILLED GULL.

In Northrup Canyon, we found CHUKAR, CANYON WREN, a
distant unidentified falcon, SPOTTED TOWHEE, two BALD
EAGLEs, a first year NORTHERN GOSHAWK, and a singing
WINTER WREN. The latter two species were Grant County
lifers for me.

In scattered flocks on Banks Lake, we saw plenty of
GREATER SCAUP, COMMON MERGANSERs, RED-BREASTED
MERGANSERs, AMERICAN COOTS, and AMERICAN WIGEON.

In Douglas County, we parked at the west of of Atkins
Lake Road. While expressing disappointment that Atkins
Lake was dry, I looked up too an adult male SNOWY OWL
staring back at me. This snowy was a gorgeous specimen
that showed very little in the way of dark markings.

When we reached Moses Coulee, the wind had become a
considerable nuisance. Although both SAGE SPARROWs and
VESPER SPARROWs were singing, they remained on the
ground and rarely were visible. As a special treat, we
enjoyed seeing a turquoise colored flock of thirty
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDs that were moving up the coulee.

Jameson Lake was loaded with AMERICAN WIGEON, REDHEAD,
CANVASBACK, MALLARDs, RING-NECKED DUCK, LESSER &
GREATER SCAUP, GADWALL, COMMON MERGANSER, RUDDY DUCK,
AME. COOTS, COMMON & BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, and
GREEN-WINGED TEAL. On the shores, we saw MARSH WREN,
BREWER'S & RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDs, and SAY'S PHOEBE.
Overhead, there were a plethora of VIOLET-GREEN
SWALLOWs, TREE SWALLOWs, CLIFF SWALLOWs, and a
NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW.

As we progressed down the Sun Lakes corridor, we saw a
number of CHUKAR on the road near Lake Lenore. Two
basic plumaged DUNLIN greeted us at Soap Lake.

Near dusk, we found over thirty WHITE PELICANs on
Brooks Lake and a WILD TURKEY roosting in tree along
old Hwy 22.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA

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