Hotline: Lower Columbia Basin
Date: July 8, 2006
Phone: 509-627-BIRD
Compiler and Transcriber: Bill and Nancy LaFramboise, billnanl at verizon.net

BIRDS REPORTED

Lark Sparrow
Rufous Hummingbird
Gray Catbird, Great Egret
Northern Mockingbird, Common Nighthawk, Lark Sparrow

TRANSCRIPT

This is the Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society Bird Alert for July 8,
2006. For questions regarding LCBAS, please leave a message.
To skip the announcement, push the star button on your phone and give your
name, phone number, date, and sightings after the tone. As the date and
time functions are not currently working, please be sure to leave the date
of your sighting.

Things are fairly quiet in the Lower Columbia Basin with high temperatures
keeping birds and birders quiet. Local breeders seem to have had some
delays in producing young, but many are starting to show up. At the Wallula
MAPS station (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship), hatch year
birds are lower in number than expected. One Song Sparrow was still
carrying an egg when banded on July 7.

On June 26, Ron and Carole Louderback noted LARK SPARROWS along the road
through Hanford, especially in the vicinity of Energy Northwest.

Lisa Hill observed a male RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD in WE Johnson Park in Richland
on July 4. It is usually expected that males do not stick around nesting
locations but not many are reported on their return trips through the
TriCities until a little later in the season. A female RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD
was netted and released unbanded at the Wallula MAPS station on June 28.

Bateman Island still has large numbers of local breeders such as Bullock's
Orioles and Black-headed Grosbeaks. There are also at least 2 singing GRAY
CATBIRDS there. Off shore in the Yakima Delta, 2 GREAT EGRETS were present
on July 5. When the water goes down after the boat races it will be time to
start looking for returning shorebirds.

As of today, July 8, at least one of the NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS remains at
Horn Rapids County Park just off Highway 240 at the Benton City turnoff.
Also present were many COMMON NIGHTHAWKS, several singing LARK SPARROWS as
well as some of the more common breeders.

To report your own sightings, please give your name, phone number, date, and
sightings after the tone. Thank you.
Visit the LCBAS web site at http://lowercolumbiabasinaudubon.org/


Bill and Nancy LaFramboise
Richland WA