On Sunday, Sherry Thiel and I spent the day birding the valley areas
around Centralia, Chehalis, Adna, and Galvin. Though we were unable to
relocate the Glaucous Gull that the Sullivan's refound earlier in the
day at Stan Hadwall Park, we still had a fairly good day finding 6
White-tailed Kites and 18 American Kestrels.
We first started out on Pleasant Valley Road checking the flooded
fields. It was full of waterfowl, which included N. Pintails, N.
Shovelers, American Wigeons, Green-winged Teals, and Mallards. A Bald
Eagle was also seen perched on the far side of the valley. Next we hit
Bunker Creek Road out of Adna. Here we found the first 3 White-tailed
Kites. One was hovering and 2 were sitting in the trees. We pulled off
by the big barn and the Kites were on the right side of the valley. Just
a little ways up we pulled off the road again. We encountered 2 large
flocks of gulls on both sides of the road. We were able to pick out a
clean adult Western Gull. Things got stirred up when a Peregrine Falcon
flew over and landing in the tree behind us, our second for the day, but
all quickly settled back down. However, 25+ Black-bellied Plovers, some
peeps, and a Scrub Jay appeared.
It was on to Lincoln Creek Road where we found the 4th Kite near MP9,
which has been reported lately, a Bald Eagle and Northern Harrier were
also seen. A little farther down the road we found our 5th Kite. And
finally at the end of Lincoln Creek Road, we found our 6th Kite and 4
Ring-necked Pheasants.

On a quick note, the Glaucous Gull could still be around, and the best
places to look for this bird would be Stan Hadwall Park in Chehalis, the
flooded fields at the entrance of the Riverside Golf Course near the
airport, and Borst Park in Centralia. Checking the gull flocks on Bunker
Creek Road could yield some nice finds as well.


Dave Hayden
Lakewood WA
dtvhm AT nwrain