Subject: [Tweeters] Potholes WA
Date: May 22 20:46:04 2007
From: Louise Rutter - louise.rutter at eelpi.gotdns.org


I hurtled over the mountains this morning to check out what was around at
the Potholes Wildlife Area. I got there at 10am, after having been
distracted briefly by the Wild Horses Monument, and found my first life bird
along the gravel entrance road in the shape of a lark sparrow. It didn't
sing properly for me, but it did buzz rather oddly from the top of a
sagebrush. It was very exciting, but a couple of hours and twelve or so more
of them later, some of the mystique was already wearing off!



I spent twenty-five minutes watching grebes down at the main reservoir
before I spotted a single Clark's among all the westerns. It was far enough
out that I suspected it with the binoculars, but definitely needed the scope
to confirm. In between grebes, I was entertained by two male Bullock's
orioles squabbling in a nearby willow, and the fly-catching agility of a
western kingbird. There were plenty of both western and eastern kingbirds
around, but they congregated in different areas. The main entrance road
north to the grebe locations was all westerns, while further south with the
herons and egrets, I saw only eastern.



Segregation seemed to be the order of the day among the waterfowl too, with
a couple of small adjacent ponds staked out by cinnamon teal, another
further along the road the province of several pairs of redhead, and yet
another that contained only ruddy duck. The red-winged and yellow-headed
blackbirds at least were more willing to share!



A single turkey vulture floated over the entrance road as I left, the only
bird of prey I saw all day apart from the ubiquitous red-tails on I-90
posts. (There were other intriguing-looking hawks I saw as I drove, but
I-90's never a good place to pull over and get out the binocs - I really
need a birdy passenger!) It was a great visit, stunning weather with enough
breeze to keep the temperatures delightful instead of sultry, but sadly, I
managed to miss out on both avocets and stilts. Does anybody have any tips
on the best places to look for them next time? It's a big area to bird - do
they use the smaller ponds or do they stick to the main reservoir?



On the way back, I called by the small lakeside riparian patch below Gingko
State Park visitor centre as recommended here last week. (The turning is
Recreation Drive from the Vantage Highway.) 3pm probably wasn't the best
time to be there - nothing was singing except a few house finches, but there
was an olive-sided flycatcher dancing between the tops of dead trees exactly
as described in my book. I managed to pick up yellow and yellow-rumped
warblers just by peering into the trees for long enough, but they're not
easy to find when they're quiet. Oddly, there was also a single
golden-crowned sparrow pecking around, presumably passing through on its way
to better places. It's a nice spot, and one I'll probably check out in the
morning on my next trip that way.



Louise Rutter

Kirkland