As an early spring venture, Michael Woodruff and I
birded Whitman County today (Thursday, 3/23/06). Under
a thin overcast, the temps ranged from the high
thirties to 60 degrees.

Our first significant birding destination was Kamiak
Butte. The shady closed-canopy, forest of Kamiak still
held patches of snow on the ground.

Warbling out it's springtime serenade in a rather
clipped phrases, a male CASSIN'S FINCH sang almost
like a vireo. Fussy MOUNTAIN & BLACK-CAPPED
CHICKADEES, and all three species of nuthatches,
responded very well to our pishing and pygmy owl
calls. Singing VARIED THRUSHES and BROWN CREEPERS were
unusually conspicuous here.

However, we could not coax out any owls. Our best bird
on the butte, was a briefly glimpsed NORTHERN GOSHAWK
(Whitman Co. lifer).

In the nearby Rose Creek Preserve, we saw half a dozen
WESTERN BLUEBIRDs, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, several
BEWICK'S WRENs, and a VARIED THRUSH.

In the some of the surrounding farmland we saw a pair
of crouching GRAY PARTRIDGE, SAVANNAH SPARROW,
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, NORTHERN SHRIKE -2, and numerous
RING-NECKED PHEASANTs.

The best birds of the day came along the Wawawai River
Road that runs along the Snake River. Since the Snake
River is on the county line for Whitman and Garfield
Counties, many of the birds that we saw were twofers
for the county listing game.

Our first Golden Eagle stubborning remained on the
palisades of Garfield County and would not cross the
county line. Since this species has been nemesis bird
for Whitman County, I had to grit my teeth and hope
for a more Whitman-friendly sighting.

While we scoped the rugged cliffs near the Golden
Eagle, we detected other Garfield County birds such as
SAY'S PHOEBE, TURKEY VULTURE - 2, RAVEN, TREE
SWALLOW-2, and RED-TAILED HAWK-3. On the Snake River,
we saw COMMON GOLDENEYE, AMERICAN WIGEON, GADWALL,
COMMON MERGANSER, and DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTs.

Between Blyton Landing and Nisqually John, we began
hearing Chukars and Rock Wrens calling on the rocky
slopes. On our side of the river (Whitman County), we
saw SAY'S PHOEBE and a pair of CHUKAR on the road.
Over the bluffs in Whitman County we finally saw a
GOLDEN EAGLE that seemed to dwarf a nearby RED-TAILED
HAWK (Hallelujah!).

As we double backed toward Wawawai Canyon, I slammed
on the breaks to view a large white gull that floated
on the river like a piece of an iceberg. I blurted out
"GLAUCOUS GULL!". Showing a typical bicolored,
pink-based bill and snowy white plumage, the bird was
in fact a second winter Glaucous Gull Compared to a
neighboring, smaller, darker adult CALIFORNIA GULL,
the glaucous looked like a regal ice cream float.
While Michael digiscoped the bird, the glaucous
obligingly flew back and forth across the river and
provided us with another twofer.

The Glaucous Gull seemed to be working up and down the
river for 2-3 mile stretch from Blyton Landing
northward. The rough center point of this activity was
at MP21 (DL: Pg57, D6). This was a Whitman & Garfield
County lifer for me and an ABA lifer for Michael.

Although our last stop at Lower Granite Dam didn't
produce anything terribly exciting, we did see a BALD
EAGLE en route, two occupied nests of GREAT HORNED
OWLs, and a Rock Wren.

Considering the fact that not many spring birds have
yet returned, we ended up with nearly 60 species in
Whitman County, 3 Whitman County lifers for me, 35
Whitman County lifers for Michael's nascent list, one
ABA lifer for Michael, and quite a few lifers for each
of us in Garfield County (by default). We certainly
enjoyed an exceptional day.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA

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