Subject: [Tweeters] birding northeastern Washington-Whimbrel at Creston
Date: May 29 22:28:55 2007
From: washingtonbirder.Knittle Knittle - washingtonbirder at hotmail.com


Marv Breece and Mark Houston and I birded together this weekend in
northeastern parts of Washington. Friday Marv and I birded our way from
Kittitas Co. to Creston where we met Mark and then we headed for Ferry
County where we spent the night in extreme southern Ferry Co.

Saturday we birded the back roads in Ferry Co. up to Inchelium and into
Stevens Co. and ended up birding the Little Pend Oreille NWR.

Sunday we worked our way east into Pend Oreille Co. and south around Cusick
and Calispell Lake where it was high water and very windy. We then headed
south and birded the Pend Oreille/Spokane Co. border around Tweedie and Lake
of the Woods. It wasn't long before a lightning storm and rain drove us
south to Hole-in-the-Ground in northern Whitman Co. where we were whishing
for a Poorwill, but only heard winnowing Wilson's Snipe going on for hours.

Monday morning began earlier than planned with major rain around 4 am and a
quick rolling up of sleeping bags and heading out for Creston.

Below is some of the highlights encountered on our birding weekend.

May 25
Black-throated Sparrow north of Vantage
1 Semipalmated Sandpiper at the south end of Soap Lake
2 White-faced Ibis in the flooded fields along Crab Creek near Wilson Creek.
1 Marbled Godwit found just east of the Ibis at the overlook where
Tricolored Blackbirds were discovered a few years back.
Lots of Poorwills calling at dusk along Lake Roosevelt in southern Ferry Co.

May 26
Mark and Marv had a Grasshopper Sparrow in southern Ferry Co.
Wilson's Phalaropes at Butler Flat just south of Inchelium
farther north, but south of the bridge to Kettle Falls were several
Yellow-breasted Chats
Little Pend Oreille NWR produced a bull Moose along with Poorwill and
Flammulated Owls.

May 27
at the campground (in Little Pend Oreille NWR) an American Redstart was
singing along the creek.
near Cusick we had a Golden Eagle fly over and not far away on Calispell
Lake we had 3 American White Pelicans in the strong wind. Not much else due
to high water levels. Along the southern border of Pend Oreille Co. near
Tweedie we had a cow moose skimming algae floatsum with it mouth--must have
been hungry. 2 Western Kingbirds were just barely in Pend Oreille Co. where
tough to find along with Ring-necked Pheasants and Vesper Sparrows. Just
south into Spokane Co. we had a Northern Waterthrush.

May 28 with an early wet start due to rain we found a Short-eared Owl in
southwestern Spokane Co. Marv and I had gotten directions from Mark about
possible Eurasian Collared-Doves in Creston. We were on our way home and
gave it a try and found them in town just as Mark had told us. White
watching 2 doves chase around a single Whimbrel came flying from the east
and fly low right over us and headed towards the sewer ponds. We could not
relocate it. This is I believe to be a Lincoln County first, a great way to
finish off our trip.





Ken Knittle
mailto:washingtonbirder "at" hotmail.com

Washington Birder newsletter
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Vancouver, WA

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