Hi Tweeters,

About three weeks ago there was a call into the Yakima Valley Audubon
Society's phone message line from someone in Moxee who said he had two
Eurasian Collared-Doves coming into his yard to feed under his bird
feeder. When I called him, he gave a very convincing description, and he
said they had been coming two his yard for a couple of weeks. A Ringed
Turtle-Dove also showed up with them, or at the same time, several times.

After three weeks of searching, with many trips through Moxee by Richard
Repp, Debie Brown and me, Richard finally found one of the Eurasian
Collared-Doves today just after noon. Perseverance pays
off! Congratulations to Richard!

Richard called me at about 12:30, just as I was finishing lunch. I grabbed
my gear and headed for Moxee, calling Debie, and others, as I
went. Richard and Debie were looking at the dove when I drove up on Holly
Street in Moxee. I was able to get a few photos before it flew to a tree
in the front yard of the house. Richard and I drove to the next street to
the west, which is Blossom St. We found it in a small deciduous tree but
it soon flew to a sycamore tree. We were able to study it for ten minutes
or so. As Richard said in his earlier e-mail, two birds flew into a tree
in the neighbor's yard. As we looked at them I knew they were Bohemian
Waxwings but I was so surprised I couldn't say anything. Richard was able
to call out the ID in short order.

I was able to get a few good photos of both the Eurasian Collared-Dove and
one of the Bohemian Waxwings. They are in the new photos folder on my
website. When you open each photo, if you click on it again you can see a
larger image of it.

This is the first record for Yakima County. It is my job to listen to the
bird report sightings on the YVAS phone line, which I do several times a
week with high hopes. I was about to give up last week when a woman called
saying she saw a black bird with red wing patches and wondered what it
was. I called her and said it was a Bald Eagle. Well, not really but I
thought about it.

It is hard to know if the collared-dove is worth chasing. I have driven
through Moxee at least six times in the past three weeks without seeing it,
so the chances of success are slim. If anyone would like directions,
please e-mail me and I will send them. It is certainly closer to almost
anywhere than Washtucna!

Denny Granstrand

* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* dgranstrand at charter.net *
* Denny's bird photos can be seen online at: *
http://granstrand.net/gallery/