I headed east this morning hoping to reach Sprague Lake to search for big water species. My first stop at the Hatton Coulee Rest Area was quite promising with a dozen PINE SISKINS and a VARIED THRUSH. A longer stop at Washtucna didn't produce anticipated northern or forest species. The resident EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE and WILD TURKEY were seen in numbers, a few HERMIT and VARIED THRUSH in the Russian-olives, but other than GC KINGLET and SS HAWK there wasn't evidence of movement.

Sprague Lake is a ways from there and I didn't have much time to scan the lake before heading back for an appointment in Moses Lake. On the way along the McCall-Lamont Road was a probable NORTHERN GOSHAWK, but it disappeared over a ridge before I could verify. At Sprague Lake, with fish floating from the rotenone project earlier this month there were lots of false alarms in the distant waters through difficult pm viewing. I did find one RED-BREASTED MERGANSER among commons east of the WDFW access. Viewing from the covered area west of the access road I saw 17 species of waterfowl, including three more RB MERGANSERS. A group of more than 30 white geese included at least 3 ROSS'S GEESE. Wondering if this is part of the same group that Gina Sheridan spotted earlier in Lincoln County near Coffeepot Lake.

Randy Hill
Othello