Upon deliberating where I should bird on Sunday
(12/10/06), I weighed the factors of poor weather and
short daylight hours. Finally, I decided to try
targeting owls in Adams County. After all, my Adams
County life list stood at 197, and I wanted to try to
break 200 by the end of the year.

As we slid over the glazed ice on our way down to
Washtucna, I was biting my lip and cursing the
freezing fog. En route, My stalwart companions of the
day (Michael Woodruff and Kim Thorburn) and I enjoyed
viewing half a dozen ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKs and a PRAIRIE
FALCON.

Even though, there was no Goshawk to greet us at
Bassett Park, we made do with several VARIED THRUSHES,
White-crowned Sparrows, 9 EURASIAN COLLARED DOVEs,
WILD TURKEY, a GREAT HORNED OWL, SPOTTED TOWHEE, and a
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK.

Pressing westward, we encountered a very large flock
of Horned Larks. Better yet, there were at least a
couple of LAPLAND LONSPURs in the mix. Despite the
light freezing rain, we obtained some decent scope
views of the longspurs. This was an ABA lifer for Kim.
This location was in the Sand Hills, 1/2 mile west of
Longmeirer Road (DL: Pg. 54, B4).

In Othello, we saw a MERLIN on a power pole, finishing
up Sunday brunch. West of Othello, there was a flock
of some 3000 blackbirds (predominately Redwings with a
smaller number of Yellow-headed, plus a Cowbird).

On Gillis Road, we asked permission to bird the
Kielien Pine Lanes. Having been granted permission, we
worked over the pine trees and turned a BARN OWL and
two LONG-EARED OWLs. There were some Saw-whet Owl
pellets too, but we couldn't locate the little guy.
Other birds of interest in the pines, included both GC
& RC Kinglets, a late YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, and a
BROWN CREEPER.

Another hugh flock of blackbirds are hanging around
the McCain Potato Ponds. There were Brewers,
Red-Winged, Yellow-headed, and TRICOLORED BLACKBIRDS
present. A NORTHERN SHRIKE added to the fun too.

As we drove past Hutchinson Lake on McManamon Road, we
stopped and scoped a tree near the marsh. The tall
willow contained a flock of American Goldfinches and
at least one COMMON REDPOLL. On the north side of the
road, we coaxed out a VIRGINIA RAIL. Meanwhile, a
flock of high pitched honking CACKLING GEESE flew
over.

At dusk, we located a SHORT-EARED OWL on the northern
end of Paradise Flats (Kulm Road). Having managed a
good run on the owls, we decided to go for broke and
try for Screech Owl in Washtucna.

Almost immediately, we had a vociferous WESTERN
SCREECH OWL in view. Michael certainly took some nice
photos of this bird too.

Surprisingly, I ended up the day with five Adams
County lifers and broke the 200 barrier. In spite of
the less than marvelous weather, we saw five different
species of owls and two northern rarities (Redpoll &
Lapland Longspur).

It was indeed a great day!

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA



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