This morning I ventured out with the intent of checking a few Burrowing Owl sites near Othello for wintering birds and then head up to Potholes State Park. Well, I got off course. My first stop after wandering through town was the Para Feedlot, south of the Adams County Fairgrounds on Reynolds Road. With a frozen countryside it seemed a better spot to check for Tricolored Blackbirds (none found), but the bulk of the blackbird flock was not visible from the road where I found only Brewer's and a few cowbirds. I then headed west on Hampton Road (2 miles south of SR 26) and found a SNOWY OWL standing on a concrete ditch about 20 yards off the road. This location is about 500 yards east of SR 24. During the 45 minute round trip to inform Dave Goeke (for photo op) and look for the redpoll he had last week, the loop to Atkinson, Athey, SR 17, Hatton and Reynolds Roads produced a COOPER'S HAWK, 2 PRAIRIE FALCONS, 6 RED-TAILED HAWKS (including a dark Harlans), 5 AMERICAN KESTRELS and the Snowy Owl exactly as I left it as Dave was attempting photos with his new camera. Heading home on SR 24 there was a MERLIN at Bench Road and 3 more kestrels. With nobody up at home I headed back out to the golf course (VARIED THRUSH but no robins) and west on Bench Road, where more kestrels and another dark Harlan's were seen. Toward the south and near the end of Kuhn Road a flock of 20+ YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS bounced between apple trees and sagebrush with juncos and White-crowned Sparrows. Down to SR 26 and Gillis Road where Kielien's pine trees usually have a few owls, he now has his driveway posted for no vehicles (although this might be just for hunter access using his leased land.)

I continued into Grant County on Lower Crab Creek Road to Corfu, where the only shrike seen was a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE at the top of a power pole. Corfu Road had a few harriers and kestrels, but the standing corn attracted several thousand blackbirds, 90+% redwings and a few Brewer's but about 3 dozen YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS. One pass by a harrier flushed about 60 sparrows from the corn field, mostly white-crowns but at least 3 AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS that perched in shrubs along the road. Next stop was Royal Lake. The new overlook is a great place to scope the mostly frozen water and sits right on the Adams/Grant County line for you county listers. Royal Lake held 16 species of waterfowl including one TRUMPETER SWAN and about 25,000 MALLARDS using the refuge buckwheat field to the east. Heading back to Othello along McManamon Road there were two NORTHERN ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, an area where I have seldom seen them in the past.

At 3:30 Elaine and I headed out to look for the owl without success (I since found out that Dave Goeke took his wife there at 1:30 and did not find it either.) We continued on to SR 17 then east on Bench Road to Steele Road, heading south in search of Short-eared Owls. No luck on Steele or Hatton, but turning south on Lemaster we found another SNOWY OWL perched on a power pole. This bird was 4 miles from the first and, although we couldn't get a look at the breast, the cap indicated it was a different bird.

After 16 winters living here I had seen one Snowy Owl in the panhandle of Adams County, and today I saw two! Last year's invasion pretty much bypassed the central Columbia Basin with only one seen south of Moses Lake. This year looks different. It was a nice start to 2007 with 49 species in Adams County that did not include a crow and few others that come into my yard every day.

Randy Hill
Othello