Hello Tweets,

Today we enjoyed a very wet, windy day birding primarily in Lewis Co. with many areas that were heavily flooded due to recent heavy rains. Our main highlights were along Bunker Creek Rd, north of the town of Adna. We had checked areas near the Meadows area of Thurston and Lewis Cos. in search of some of the recent good birds in that area. We also attempted to search for the adult Red-shouldered Hawk that has recently been noted near the Independence area in extreme southwest Thurston Co./northern Lewis Co., but due to increased flooding we were unable to get to the exact location where the bird had been observed.

Our first main highlight of the day was 3 RED PHALAROPES in the heavily flooded area next to the Centralia Wastewater Treatment Plant at the end of Goodrich Rd. in Lewis Co. We were really surprised to see these birds since there have been NO recent inland Phalarope sightings. This is the same location than we observed 2 Redheads on the 8th of January. There was also an adult WHITE-TAILED KITE observed hunting/perching in the open field just west of the flooded area and was observed from 3 vantage points. In Centralia 2 WESTERN GREBES were in flooded portion of the Skookumchuck River just north of Mellen Street.

Continuing south the rain turned more heavy, but we decided to take a side excursion along Bunker Creek Rd. north of the town of Adna and Hwy.6. When we arrived to this location the weather began to slightly improve and we drove north of Adna approximately 2 miles. We located up to 6 WHITE-TAILED KITES from an open field near a few barns just south of the heaviest flooded area. These birds consisted of 4 adult birds and 2 immature birds and all perched either low on fence posts and low trees. We checked the flooded areas heavy and located a few other highlights beginning with an adult SNOW GOOSE amongst a flock of Canada/Cackling Geese followed by a first-winter GLAUCOUS GULL. The Glaucous Gull was amongst a scattered gull flock and could likely be the same bird that was present in the Centralia/Chehalis area as of recently. Other notable gull species encountered in this general vicinity included 1 adult WESTERN GULL,2 THAYER'S GULLS, and 2 Herring Gulls. Our land bird highlights from this route included a single Western Meadowlark and a single male Purple Finch.

A further scoping of the flooded stubble fields produced 38 Black-bellied Plovers, 18 Dunlin, and 1 Least Sandpiper. 8 Am. Kestrels were also noted along Bunker Creek Rd. north of Adna. Returning back towards I-5 we stopped along flooded portions of Hwy 6 just west of the Newaukum River. Here, we located 16 Dunlin,22 Western Meadowlarks along with scattered numbers of waterfowl.

As we proceeded south along I-5 south of Chehalis a single ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was observed hunting over open fields west of I-5 at MP 75. Our final stop of the day was made along the Dike Access Rd. vicinity near Woodland in Cowlitz Co., as the rain continued along with some windy areas. We were able to locate scattered flocks of Sandhill Cranes north of Whalen Rd. and estimated 800+ birds. Other notable sightings from this general area included 20 Great Egrets,24 TRUMPETER SWANS, 8 Tundra Swans and a single Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
(roosting with the Knittle's in Vancouver)


Ken Knittle
Washington Birder
2604 NE 80th Street
Vancouver, WA 98665
360.574.2590
email to: washingtonbirder at hotmail.com<mailto:washingtonbirder at hotmail.com>