Hi Tweets,

Today Barb, Randy & Elaine Hill, Theresa Mathis, and I spent the day
touring the Waterville Plateau in Douglas County and the Grand Coulee in
Grant County.
Our first nice bird was a beautiful pale Merlin which we believe to be of
the prairie race. This bird was one of the lightest Merlins I have seen in
the Northwest and was quite striking. Another dark Merlin presumably of the
columbarius race was seen near Soap Lake.
A Prairie Falcon near Moses Coulee chasing a Golden Eagle was a nice
highlight along SR-2
We found the Waterville Plateau to be rich and rewarding on this particular
day of cold but clear weather. Several large flocks of Snow Buntings were
located along Rd F NW north of Sprauer RD (DeLorme pg 84, 1.5/B . Totals
were difficult to determine but an estimate of 500 birds would be
conservative. Also along RD F NW were a total of 8 Snowy Owls. All of the
Snowy Owls were located between 11 & 12 NW, and contained a variety of sexes
and ages.
A Lapland Longspur along Heritage Road was an unexpected, but hoped for,
bonus.
A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers treated us on Banks Lake near Steamboat
Rock. Further along SR-155 we located a large group of Redheads. While
viewing these birds we were able to locate four more Red-breasted
Mergansers, and a single LONG-TAILED DUCK with several Common Goldeneye.
Nineteen American Tree Sparrows near Steamboat Rock were very nice. This is
a good numbers of these birds.
A final Merlin topped off the day along SR-17. Sixty-five species on a
cold February day with great weather.

Cheers

Doug Schonewald
Moses Lake, WA
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