Hi All,



At noon yesterday (31 January), I watched a Say's Phoebe in AJ Fullbright Park just south of Union Gap. Take South 1st south from Union Gap and keep on US-97, taking the sharp right into the park (marked also "Agricultural Museum"). I watched the bird forage like a sparrow (!) on the ground , not sallying from an elevated perch as is the norm for flycatchers. I also watched it work a Douglas-fir trunk much as a nuthatch, evidently gleaning like a Brown Creeper or Golden-crowned Kinglet. Evidently, this bird was finding insects, either active or dormant though the air temperature was only 29 F when I first saw it. At 2 pm, Richard Repp and I saw it again in the same place. The temperature had climbed to 32 F.



Winter records of Say's Phoebes in the Yakima area are less than annual. I wonder if this individual was an early migrant or a wintering bird.



Lastly, the Band-tailed Pigeon, discovered by John Hebert the other day, is still at the South Greenway. I watched it perched atop the tallest tree on the western side of the area. It is plainly visible from the entrance road to Poppoff Trail, or, even from the I-82 on-ramp at Exit 36. This species is only very rarely noted in winter in eastern Washington. It seems to be hanging around an area with lots of Russian olives, so maybe it is munching on that trees berries.



Andy Stepniewski

Wapato WA

steppie at nwinfo.net