Subject: [Tweeters] Lincoln County goodies
Date: Sep 12 20:11:18 2006
From: Michael Woodruff - crazybirder98 at hotmail.com


Since I had a whacked but welcome schedule at school today and didn't have
to be there until 1 o'clock, my dad took the morning off from work and we
went birding! The weather was perfect and some good birds were seen.

We were at the Reardan ponds just before sunrise. In the reeds immediately
beside the road, a juvenile VIRGINIA RAIL was foraging on the open mud. A
little farther off, a 1st-year SORA was doing the same! Meanwhile, a
WILSON'S SNIPE flushed.

We only stayed a few minutes and then drove on to the Davenport Cemetery,
arriving at 6:45. For the first half-hour or so, birds were doing a lot of
flying around and were tough to see. They eventually calmed down and
started working the trees at all levels, providing good looks at most of
them.

The biggest surprise was a juvenile female WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER,
apparently a first county record! About the center of the cemetery are two
deciduous trees standing together, one thickly leafed and one thinly. We
discovered the sapsucker pecking away in the center of the thinner tree, and
it gave great looks from the time we discovered it at 8:15 until we left.

I've posted a photo of the WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER to the following link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nightjar/242041106/

A secondary highlight at the cemetery was a female AMERICAN REDSTART. This
bird was observed several times higher in the "sapsucker tree", distracting
us from viewing the sapsucker at times!

Other birds observed in the cemetery include a male RED-NAPED
SAPSUCKERWHITE-CROWNED SPARROW - 20, CHIPPING SPARROW -2, DARK-EYED JUNCO
-10, OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER -2, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE -1, HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER
-2, WILSON'S WARBLER -2, TOWNSEND'S WARBLER -2, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER -15,
SWAINSON'S THRUSH -1, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET -8, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET -3,
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH -1, and NORTHERN FLICKER -6.

Afterwards, we drove south to Harrington, and birded a little bit in the
southwest part of town. In various yards, we had a WESTERN TANAGER,
HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER, TOWNSEND'S WARLBLER -2, WILSON'S WARBLER -2, and a
SPOTTED TOWHEE. The cemetery looked very promising, but we didn't find too
much. A TURKEY VULTURE came off a roost and a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK soared
with it.

We stopped in at the Sprague Lake Resort at the east end of the lake. We
were greeted by 50+ YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. We spent a lot of time sifting
through the butterbutts looking for oddballs, and found CASSIN'S VIREO -3,
WARBLING VIREO -2, WILSON'S WARBLER -3, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER -2, and
HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER -4. Two VAUX'S SWIFTS flew overhead while we were
craining our necks at the migrants.

Running out of time, we dropped down to Sheep Lake in Whitman County. An
astonishing 27 HOODED MERGANSERS were in all sorts of weird plumages. 3
RED-NECKED PHALAROPES and 1 GREATER YELLOWLEGS were the only shorebirds
inspite of good mud. 2 EARED GREBES and 1 HORNED GREBE were in basic
plumage.

It was great to get out after two busy first weeks at school, and we both
had a really good time. Migration is so much fun!

Michael and Roger Woodruff
Spokane, WA

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