Hi Tweeters --

I spent a couple of days exploring the Columbia
Basin in eastern WA for the first time, and below
are highlights, including SABINE'S GULL, EURASIAN
COLLARED DOVE, COMMON TERNS, HERRING GULL,
CATBIRD, BOBOLINK, shorebirds, and passerine
migrants?.

7 SEPT.

WANAPUM LAKE, Kittitas Co.:
1 imm. Sabine's Gull
8 Common Terns
6 Red-necked Phalaropes
2 Red-necked Grebes
1+ Common Loon
1 Townsend's Solitaire, 1 Warbling Vireo, 1
Yellow Warbler, 1 Western Tanager with Robins in
the sprinklers at the campground.

FRENCHMAN'S COULEE, Grant Co.
3 Chukar

SILICA RD., Grant Co.:
1 (latish?) Sage Sparrow
6 Chukar


8 SEPT.

LYONS FERRY S.P., Franklin Co.:
lots of migrant activity in a.m.
5 Sharp-shins & 1 Cooper's; 1 Sharp-shin caught a House Finch for breakfast
1 WW Pewee
2 Warbling Vireo
2 Ruby- & 1 Golden-cr Kinglet
3 Gray Catbird
1 Am. Pipit
5 Orange-cr Warbler
75+ Audubon's Warbler
2 MacGillivray's Warbler
9 Wilson's Warbler
3 Western Tanager
5 Lincoln's Sparrow
3 Golden-cr Sparrow
1 Lazuli Bunting
1 Bobolink

PALOUSE FALLS S.P., Franklin Co.:
An amazing waterfall!
pair of Peregrine Falcons; watched female eat some prey item
1-2 Olive-sided Flycatcher
1 WW Pewee
2-3 Hammond's Flycatcher
1 Say's Phoebe
1 Am. Pipit
1 MacGillivray's Warbler
2 Wilson's Warbler
1 Lincoln's Sparrow

WASHTUCNA, Adams Co.:
3 Barn Owls
1 Eurasian Collared Dove
1 E. Kingbird
2 Olive-sided Flycatcher
6 Hammond's Flycatcher
1 Cassin's Vireo
3 Hermit Thrush
1 Ruby-cr Kinglet
1 MacGillivray's Warbler
4 Wilson's Warbler
1 Western Tanager
3 Lincoln's Sparrow

SCOOTENEY RESERVOIR, Adams Co.:
4 White Pelican
1 Baird's Sandpiper
1 Common Nighthawk
4 Bank Swallows

PARA PONDS, Adams Co.
15 Dowitcher sp.

POTHOLES RESERVOIR (from S.P.), Grant Co.:
Pelicans, egrets, grebes, yada yada.
4 Lesser Yellowlegs
1 Greater Yellowlegs
6 Baird's Sandpiper
1 Herring Gull
1 Caspian Tern

LIND COULEE, Grant Co. (at dusk; could not see
all birds, so these are undercounts?):
8 Black-cr Night Heron
10 Lesser Yellowlegs
12-15 Baird's Sandpiper


9 SEPT.

Yakima River Delta had no mudflats, so no shorebirds.
Migrants were on Bateman Island, but windy
weather kept them down in the bushes.


120 species total. A hearty thanks to Hal
Opperman and the folks who wrote the fine
chapters in his guide that I used on this trip:
Mike Denny, Andy Stepniewski, and Bill & Nancy
LaFramboise.

Good birding, all,

Jay Withgott
Portland , OR
withgott at comcast.net