After successfully chasing and seeing the first
Lincoln County record for WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER
(discovered by the Woodruffs) yesterday, I couldn't
resist the temptation to run out and bird again today.


On Wednesday (9/13/06), the Cottets and I met up with
Ruth & Patrick Sullivan at the Sprague Lake Resort
(Lincoln County). Conditions were breezy, cloudy, and
somewhat on the cool side. Initially, there wasn't
much bird activity, but we did see a GREAT HORNED OWL
and an immature EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE on the resort
grounds.

After 11:00 AM waves of birds began to move through
the trees and we were quickly sorting through large
numbers of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS and WHITE-CROWNED
SPARROWs. As a wave of Yellow-rumps moved through the
hedgerow that borders the entrance driveway, Patrick
quickly called out a BLACKPOLL WARBLER and helped
everyone to zero in on this eastern rarity. As a
result, all of us had a good view of the first year
Blackpoll as it moved quickly through the hedgerow.
When this particular wave of birds passed through, we
were unable to relocate the blackpoll.

Other notable birds that we saw from the resort
included WOOD DUCK, RING-NECKED DUCK, RUDDY DUCK,
REDHEAD, WESTERN GREBE, BELTED KINGFISHER, TURKEY
VULTURE, WILSON'S WARBLER, WARBLING VIREO, RC KINGLET,
BARN SWALLOW, BANK SWALLOW, SAVANNAH SPARROW,
CHIPPING SPARROW, HERMIT THRUSH, and juncos.

Inexplicably, there were precious few birds on Sprague
Lake itself. We only saw a few RING-BILLED GULLs,
WHITE PELICANS, HORNED GREBES, DC CORMORANTS, and
various distant ducks.

Sheep Lake (Whitman County) harbored a contingent of
HOODED MERGANSERs, PINTAIL, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, a
single TUNDRA SWAN as well a single CACKLING GOOSE.
Upon our arrival, three peeps flushed off the north
end of the lake and frustrated our attempt to identify
them.

Between Sheep Lake and Crooked Knee Lake, we observed
an immature GOLDEN EAGLE. Sadly, the water level on
Crooked Knee Lake was simply too high to support
shorebirds.

We ended up the day scanning Philleo Lake (Spokane
County), and finding RED-NECKED PHALAROPEs - 6,
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER - 3, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER - 1,
BAIRD'S SANDPIPER - 1, COOPER'S HAWK - 1, NORTHERN
ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW, WESTERN BLUEBIRD, and GRAY
PARTRIDGE.

It seemed to us that there were quite a few birds
being ushered in on the vanguard of the approaching
cold front. During the next several days of cool
unsettled weather, who knows what other goodies will
drop in to delight us?

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA

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