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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