Natalie and I were happy to get out for an entire weekend of birding in
Eastern Washington this weekend, as we took a couple of beginning
birders on a birding and photography outing from Tacoma to Othello and
back. Along the way we watched 78 species in a wide variety of weather
conditions from biting cold and snow at Snoqualmie Pass and along the
Old Vantage Highway, to a sunny sunset along Corfu Road. Highlights include:

- Three BLACK-NECKED STILT seen along with two AMERICAN AVOCET seen
early Sunday afternoon at the County Line Ponds on Highway 26 west of
Othello (DeLorme page 53). The interesting thing about these birds is
that they were not seen by us on Saturday on our way into Othello, but
they were there on Sunday. We didn't see either of these species yet at
Birders' Corner along Dodson Road on Saturday afternoon - and we also
didn't see the Burrowing Owls at that location for the second weekend in
a row. We did see BURROWING OWLS along with a few other birders just
east of Othello on Sunday morning.

- Eight TRICOLORED BLACKBIRDS near the potato processing plants just
north of Othello (DeLorme, 53) with a mix of other blackbirds

- A pair of LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE west of Smyrna along Lower Crab Creek Road
(DeLorme, 52)

I am sure we would have been able to show our beginning birder friends
even more species if the weather had been more hospitable on Saturday.
Strong winds and cold temperatures with a mixture of snow and rain
greeted us from the eastern slopes of the Cascades to the Columbia
River. Sunday's weather was much nicer.

As always, it was a joy to get out into the eastern part of the state
for our first trip in many months.

Happy birding!

Rob McNair-Huff ---------- Tacoma, WA
Author of Birding Washington (Falcon Publishing, 2004)
and Insider's Guide to the Olympic Peninsula (Globe Pequot, 2001)
Mac Net Journal ---------- http://www.macnetjournal.com

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