On Thursday (6/01/06), Roger & Michael Woodruff, Kim
Thorburn, and I decided to have a go at the Eastern
Phoebe that has been present between Priest River and
Coolin, Idaho. En route, we birded northern Spokane
County and southeastern Pend Oreille County. As the
weather was sunny and quite warm, overall bird
activity was quite good.

Our first stop at dawn was on the Little Spokane River
canoe launch. Although we attempted to coax out a
chat, we didn't have any luck with it. However, we did
have nice views of a VEERY, Gray Catbirds, Yellow
Warblers, Cedar Waxwings, and Common Yellowthroat.. Up
the hill, we briefly heard Swainson's Thrush and a
Pacific Slope Flycatcher.

After Eloika Lake Road delivered nothing but a lot of
traffic, we proceeded on Kirkpatrick Road in extreme
southern Pend Oreille County. Fortunately, our P.O.
county target birds of Ring-necked Pheasant, House
Wren, Western Bluebird, and California Quail were easy
to come by here. These birds are generally tough to
find in cold-wet P.O. Co.

Farther along, we encountered Dusky Flycatcher,
Spotted Towhee, Wilson's Snipe, Lazuli Bunting,
Red-naped Sapsucker, Steller's Jay, Savannah Sparrow,
and Pileated Woodpecker. Lake of the Woods produced
AMERICAN REDSTART, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, Yellow
Warbler, Black-headed Grosbeak, Warbling Vireo,
Red-eyed Vireo, and Willow Flycatcher.

When we arrived at the bridge that crosses the Middle
Fork of the East River (north of the Priest River
Experimental Station), we were treated to singing
AMERICAN REDSTART. A couple of minutes later, the
EASTERN PHOEBE flew up onto a wire and began calling.

The Phoebe was incredibly tame and allowed close
views. Although it would sometimes fly under the
bridge and land on the bridge girders or snags in or
along the river, it repeatedly returned to it's
favorite perch above the bridge. Apparently, this is
only the third Idaho state record for this species and
the first one for northern Idaho.

When we returned to P.O. County, we checked several
sites in the southeastern corner of the county.
Pioneer Park allowed us to see Townsend's Warbler,
Orange-crowned Warbler, and Hammond's Flycatcher. The
public boating access to Marshall Lake had a Western
Tanager and plenty of EVENING GROSBEAKs on hand to
greet us. No Name Lake had a family of Common
Goldeneyes on the water, and Brown Creeper, Swainson's
Thrush, and Ruffed Grouse on the the shore. The
vicinity of Bead Lake had Pacific-Slope Flycatcher,
Cassin's Vireo, and more Evening Grosbeaks.

After considering that our sighting of a waterthrush
on Lake of the Woods was only two miles north of
Spokane County, we plotted a course into northern
Spokane county to see if we could find this species in
our home county. Along the Little Spokane River, the
riparian habitat certainly looked promising. On
Fridegar Road, we came up empty, but as we drove
slowly southward on Elk-Camden Road, we heard a
waterthrush seen. Within a few minutes, we were having
spectacular views of our first Spokane County NORTHERN
WATERTHRUSH!. The location is on the south side of
Camden (on the east side of Elk-Camden Road, 1/4 mile
north of the intersection with Boundary Road; DL: Pg
105, D-6).

This morning (6/02/06) I chased and saw the LEAST
FLYCATCHER that Craig Corder had found just inside the
Turnbull NWR entrance. The bird was calling from the
first large aspen grove on the right.

As a personal milestone, the Least Flycatcher was the
200th specie on my 2006 Spokane County year list. In
fact, I saw two Spokane County lifers on two
consecutive days (Forster's Tern & No. Waterthrush).


Additional notes on local birds:

Yesterday, Jim Acton reported that he could not refind
the Black-throated Sparrow at Steptoe Butte. He spent
2 1/2 hours of intensive searching, but did not see
it.

On Thursday, Harold Cottet said that they were unable
to find the Forester's Tern that had graced Williams
Lake for a couple of days.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA

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