Subject: [Tweeters] Lincoln County Goodies, 4/28/07
Date: Apr 29 13:56:07 2007
From: Michael Woodruff - crazybirder98 at hotmail.com


My dad and I decided to head out to Lincoln County to fill in some gaps in
our county lists. We left Spokane at 5:30 yesterday morning (4/28). Temps
ranged from 45-70 degrees under hazy overcast skies with periodical windy
moments. Overall, it was a fantastic day.

We arrived at the Reardan Ponds at 6:15 where the regular species greeted
us. There was American Avocet -1, Black-necked Stilt -1, Eared Grebes,
Cinnamon Teal, and the always-loud Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Marsh Wrens.
A few Barn Swallows and Northern Rough-winged Swallows were overhead.

As we cruised through Davenport, we located 1 EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE on the
southeast side of town. There were migrant birds in almost every tree. We
searched through literally hundreds of White-crowned Sparrows, and our
rewards included 1 GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW and 1 LARK SPARROW. NASHVILLE
WARBLERS were fairly common, and a singing WESTERN TANAGER was cool.

The Davenport Cemetery was about the busiest I've seen it! Birds were in
every tree and bush, including Varied Thrush -4, HERMIT THRUSH -4, FOX
SPARROW -3, Lincoln's Sparrow -1, White-crowned Sparrow -12, Chipping
Sparrow -1, Spotted Towhee, Red-naped Sapsucker -1, CASSIN'S VIREO -2,
Ruby-crowned Kinglet -100, HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER -2, TOWNSEND'S WARBLER -3,
Orange-crowned Warbler -1, and Yellow-rumped Warbler -12. It was tough
keeping track of things as the birds moved constantly around. There was
never a dull moment! The wind stayed down during our visit which made
things fantastic.

We explored Old Kucks Rd south of Davenport, where a BREWER'S SPARROW was
cooperative (and many more singing). White-crowned Sparrows were
everywhere, plus a few Vesper Sparrows. We headed north of Davenport
towards Hawk Creek Canyon. While on Cottonwood Creek Rd, we flushed a
LONG-BILLED CURLEW from the roadside! It circled around and made some cool
calls before landing again.

Hawk Creek Canyon had a bunch of new species for the day. We were hitting
so many things we decided to try for a high total. Townsend's Solitaire,
Cassin's Finch, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Mountain Chickadee were all
seen in the upper canyon, as well as a heard-only Pine Siskin. Lower down
we had Bewick's Wren and Say's Phoebe. Around the campground, there were
numerous Cliff Swallows, some WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS, 2 TURKEY VULTURES, and
2 Osprey.

We ventured on to the small town of Lincoln along the Columbia River. We
called in a CANYON WREN into sight on the high cliff and finally saw our
Black-capped Chickadees of the day. A Horned Grebe was the only bird on the
river. We also found a couple singing YELLOW WARBLERS and a COOPER'S HAWK.

The next area to visit was Swanson Lakes, but first we had great looks at
another EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE in the small town of Creston. South into the
Swanson Lakes, we saw a surprising 5 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS for this late date.
The largest lake had 15 DUNLIN in alternate plumage as well as 2 Avocets and
at least 8 LEAST SANDPIPERS. A female HOODED MERGANSER was nice as were 2
female COMMON MERGANSERS. Farther south on Seven Springs Dairy Rd, we ran
into 6 SAGE THRASHERS, our first SWAINSON'S HAWK of the day (we had 4), a
Loggerhead Shrike, another Lark Sparrow, and a Western Kingbird. A big
surprise was a nearly completely albino Ring-necked Pheasant that stood out
like a Cattle Egret in the field.

We decided to check out the cemetery at Harrington which was fairly
productive last fall. It didn't disappoint us, as even at mid-day it was
full of activity. New species for the day were Dusky Flycatcher and
Warbling Vireo, but we also had Ruby-crowned Kinglet -45, Cassin's Vireo -1,
Hermit Thrush -1, Townsend's Solitaire -1, Red-naped Sapsucker -1,
Townsend's Warbler -2, Orange-crowned Warbler -3, Yellow-rumped Warbler -3,
and Chipping Sparrow -5. A Great Horned Owl nest had large chicks south of
Harrington.

The Sprague Sewer Ponds were actually quite productive. About 20
BONAPARTE's GULLS, 1 Wilson's Phalarope, and a pair of BLUE-WINGED TEAL were
the best birds. Along the Lincoln side of Sprague Lake, there was a large
flock of regular ducks and a Western Grebe, and overhead there was a
gorgeous adult GOLDEN EAGLE.

Sheep Lake (Whitman County) had a HORNED GREBE and 12 LEAST SANDIPERS, but
nothing much else. Crooked Knee Lake had a bunch of Eared Grebes.

We ended the day with 111 species in Lincoln County alone! We each finished
off with about 18 county lifers. It was a fantastic day filled with many
fun new spring birds.

Michael and Roger Woodruff
Spokane, WA

_________________________________________________________________
Mortgage rates near historic lows. Refinance $200,000 loan for as low as
$771/month*
https://www2.nextag.com/goto.jsp?product=100000035&url=%2fst.jsp&tm=y&search=mortgage_text_links_88_h27f8&disc=y&vers=689&s=4056&p=5117