Spent today scouting for the WOS fieldtrip coming up next Saturday, May 5 in
Douglas and Grant Co. Despite a little windy sometimes all in all a great
day. The biggest surprise was the water levels. Some areas are usually
almost dry by now, today I encountered the opposite problem, too much water
and no/little shorebird habitat. Thus shorebird totals over all weren't
great.

At sagebrush flats (the WDFW wildlife area managed for deep sage communities
and pygmy rabbits) all of the usually sage species, SAGE THRASHER, BREWER'S
SPARROW, VESPER SPARROW and SAGE SPARROW were present and visible. Several
pairs of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS were also present along the road.

In Moses Coulee, the WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS were putting on a good display
and the many rock faces as they entered their nests and then left.

As evidenced by the high water levels a farm field was flooded near the west
entrance of Heritage Rd (L NE) off of Hwy. 2, both species of Yellowlegs
were present here, 8 LESSER YELLOWLEGS and 3 GREATER YELLOWLEGS.

On road 4 NE accessed off of Heritage rd by turning left, I had 3 singing
male GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS despite some windy conditions. 2 SHORT-EARED OWLS
were perched on fence posts mid morning and a female SAGE GROUSE was
observed walking through the grass along side of the road.

A LONG-EARED OWL was in a grove of trees a couple miles further up Heritage
Rd. The water levels of the lake near the corner of St. Andrews rd and N NE
was almost coming over the road but had breeding RUDDY DUCK, REDHEAD, both
BLUE-WINGED and CINNAMON TEAL, AMERICAN WIGEON, NORTHERN PINTAIL and 18
LEAST SANDPIPER.

The ponds on the south side of Hwy. 2 Banks Lake dam were also very full and
little to no shorebird habitat. One pond had 8 BLACK-NECKED STILT among
BUFFLEHEAD and calling VIRGINIA RAIL and a SORA.

Migrants at Sun Lake St. Park were most of the usual including lots of
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW,
however there were 3 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, 1 NASHVILLE WARBLER, 1 CASSIN'S
VIREO, and also single VARIED THRUSH, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET and BROWN
CREEPER. On Blue and Park lakes the fisherman outnumbered the birds (and
probably the fish) by far. If you've never seen the first weekend or two of
fishing season in this area its quite a spectacle, literally double wide
camping of RV's on the shoulder of Hwy. 17 along both lakes.

On Lake Lenore there were 11 BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, 6 COMMON LOON and 1
BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON on the upper end. Both EARED and HORNED GREBES in
breeding plumage on the south end. A RED-NECKED GREBE was nesting along the
south end of Alkali lake (a usual spot for it).

On soap lake, many breeding plumaged EARED GREBE, a pair of displaying
WESTERN GREBE and 26 AMERICAN AVOCET, 9 LEAST SANDPIPER and 1 GREATER
YELLOWLEGS on the north beach.

For the day, 93 species. Not bad considering it was only a scouting trip and
wasn't even attempting a high species count. I would be surprised if the
field trip fell short of 100 species.

Scott Downes
downess at charter.net
Yakima WA