Subject: [Tweeters] RE: Eastern Washington, April 14-16
Date: Apr 20 23:37:42 2006
From: Matt Dufort - zeledonia at yahoo.com
Sorry, all. That email wasn?t finished, and still had a lot. I?ll send a
completed version tomorrow.
Matt Dufort
Seattle, WA
_____
From: Matt Dufort [mailto:zeledonia at yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 11:33 PM
To: 'tweeters at u.washington.edu'
Subject: Eastern Washington, April 14-16
Hello Tweets,
Sorry for the long delay in posting, but it took me some time to recover
from a marathon three-day birding trip east of the Cascades last weekend. I
visited a number of sites in Douglas, Grant, Lincoln, Stevens, Spokane, and
Adams counties. I found a total of 131 species. A lot of the mid-spring
migrants (terns, many shorebirds) had not arrived yet, but there were good
numbers of some early migrants.
I camped the first night at Sun Lakes State Park, where a Barn Owl was
screeching over the campground much of the night. Spent the next morning
birding the Waterville Plateau. I started out at the Leahy lek, where quite
a few Greater Sage-Grouse were displaying ? I counted 10 males on the lek.
Also there was a Rough-legged Hawk sitting right in the middle of the lek,
and several coyotes that appeared to be stalking the grouse. The birds were
active until about 7:00, when most of them stopped displaying, and some
dispersed off the lek. The big surprise was 9 grouse on the south side of
the road, out in an open crop field. There were also numbers of Vesper
Sparrows and a few Brewer?s Sparrows singing at the lek site. I headed down
the Leahy Cutoff Road, and found Sage Thrasher, more Brewer?s Sparrow, and
an early Grasshopper Sparrow at one of the patches of good sage habitat.
I then headed to the owl roost in the wash west of Lamoine. On the way
there, another Rough-legged Hawk was hunting the fields outside Lamoine.
One owl (either Short-eared or Barn) flushed out of the line of pines, but
couldn?t find any others. There were a few migrants in the trees, including
the first of many Ruby-crowned Kinglets. They seemed to be everywhere I
went all weekend, including some in very marginal habitat ? definitely on
the move. Also present were a single Hermit Thrush, a Swainson?s Hawk, and
a fly-over Long-billed Curlew. Other miscellaneous birds on the Waterville
Plateau: two Lesser Yellowlegs in a flooded field along Hwy 17, a Prairie
Falcon along St Andrew Rd E, and 3 Avocets at Stallard Lake.
My next stop was along Dry Falls Dam and Banks Lake. There were lots of
waterfowl on the lake and in the ponds below the dam. Highlights were 8
Red-breasted Mergansers and a flock of 43 Greater White-fronted Goose.
White-fronts were evident many places last weekend, including several
fly-over flocks. Other birds at the dam included 50 White-throated Swifts,
another Prairie Falcon, and 2 Greater Yellowlegs. I also heard the first
pipits of the trip ? another species that was everywhere. I think I had
pipits flying overhead at most of the wetland spots I stopped at.
I moved down Grand Coulee, doing some birding, but also stopping at Lenore
Lake Caves ? a very cool spot. At Alkali Lake were a Red-necked Grebe (at
the south end), and one of the few Turkey Vultures I saw. Moving south, I
ran into a HUGE flock of swallows, several hundred at least, feeding along
the cliffs on the east side of the coulee. Violet-Green were the most
abundant, followed by Tree, with a few Cliff Swallows and White-throated
Swifts mixed in.
Soap Lake was packed with Eared Grebes ? I?m amazed by how particular they
are in their site choice. Also there were 7 Avocets and 19 Dunlin at the
south end.
I decided to check out the marsh east of Wilson Creek where Tricolored
Blackbirds nest.
Wilson Creek
Ferruginous Hawk east of town along Z road
15 distant Tundra Swans in wetland
Loads of YHBL & RWBL, but no TRBL seen
Swainson?s Hawk & PRFA at TRBL marsh
Loads of White-crowned Sparrows on road into town
Owling near Gifford campground ? GHOW seen on Cedonia-Addy Rd, then pair
hear calling. NSWO across Lk Roosevelt, and one on Cedonia-Addy Rd
Gifford Campground
6 Hairy, 3 Black-backed, 2 White-headed, loads of Flicker, 3 nuthatches, 1
TOSO (first of many), lots of WEBL, AUWA singing (and abundant the rest of
trip), lots of RECR,
Wild Turkeys along Hwy 25 ? lots of them (& many hunters out)
Say?s Phoebe just north of bridge, near Fort Spokane
Mountain Bluebird, several Wild Turkeys along Hwy 25 in Lincoln Co.
Davenport Cemetery
lots of GCKI, a few RCKI, 2 TOSO, 1 Merlin (also one northeast of town)
Davenport to Reardan ? more MOBL, VESP, another Merlin
Harriers everywhere, adult males particularly visible (females on nest?)
Mondovi Ponds ? lots of ducks, plus 2 GWFG
Reardan Ponds
Lots of Coot & RUDU, some Gadwall, 15 EAGR, Buff, Shoveler, Canvasback,
Ruddy, Lesser Scaup, tons of MAWR & YHBL, 2 Virginia Rail calling (at 1:00
p.m.)
5 Tundra Swan in a field S of Hwy 2, east of Reardan
Great-tailed Grackle with BRBL just south of Moller & Valleyway in Liberty
Lake. Easy to find by distinctive calls
1 Townsend?s Solitaire in Ponderosa Pine east of town
Liberty Lake C.P. ? awesome site!
AUWA singing, 5 TOSO, tons of birds (junco, 5+ WEBL, many RCKI, 3 nuthatches
(lots of Pygmy & Red-breasted, a few White-breasted)), 2 Pine Siskin
singing, 3 RNGR on Liberty Lake
Turnbull NWR
Turkeys gobbling near HQ, many RECR overhead, 2 Trumpeter Swan in pond
viewed from HQ (nesting? ? as in checklist), MAWR singing at ponds there, 1
BAEA over HQ, GHOW calling on beginning of auto tour
Started raining & got very nasty
Sprague Lake
200 Cackling Goose, 9 BCNH flying in at dusk at the boat launch access near
SW end of lake
Potholes S.P.
1 TOSO, lots of AUWA & 1 MYWA (only one I saw), many RCKI in campground,
many WCSP
Had 2 singing Bewick?s Wren back on April 1, but no sign of them
Columbia NWR (Grant Co. side)
Tons of White-crowned Sparrow (50+, with 15 or more singing within 50
yards), 1 GREG, VESP singing, first BARS of trip, 1 CATE, several NRWS, 40
GWFG overhead (going north)
Marsh, Canyon, & Rock Wren all singing
Columbia NWR (Adams Co. side)
Singing Canyon Wren, more NRWS, Ruby-crowned Kinglet at odd location at edge
Deadman Lakes, in sagebrush & reeds
Para Ponds ? birds flying around everywhere
Tons of ducks, especially NSHO, 3 GREG, 20 BNST flew in but kept going, same
with 18 Dunlin
Tons of YHBL, 3 Bank Swallows (first of trip), LISP in brush along road
(with WCSP), loads of Cackling & Canada Geese, numbers of Tree &
Violet-Green Swallows
Leucistic ?ashy? BRBL, with tan head
Lots of AMPI (50+) feeding on ground
No blackbirds around the processing buildings in north end of Othello (no
TRBL)
Lots of BUOW east of Othello
2 GCKI, 1 SPTO, 4 NWRS at Hatton Coulee Rest Stop
Rough-legged Hawk over Hwy 26 & singing Vesper Sparrow at Sand Hills Coulee
Bassett Park, Washtucna
Tons of RCKI, some GCKI, Eurasian Collared-Dove calling in center of park, a
few BCCH
Hendricks Road, Frankln Co.
Tree, Barn, & Cliff Swallow, & Herring Gull eating a large fish (perch?)
Pair of Canvasback on Cattail Lake
4 Black-necked Stilt on Scooteney Res.
74 Tricolored Blackbird in Othello
County Line Ponds in Grant County
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