Reading about Randy Hill's Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in Othello yesterday,
my dad and I changed our plans to give this bird a shot. We arrived on
site at the McCain Potato Ponds around 7:45 this morning (9/28/07) just
as the rain and wind hit. It was cold and miserable, but when we
looked over the edge of the dike and had the juvenile SHARP-TAILED
SANDPIPER in the scope at 50 yds, it didn't feel cold anymore! It was
clearly recognizable even with binoculars as it foraged with several
Pectoral Sandpipers. Fantastic! This was our 2nd ABA lifer in eastern
Washington in two days, and even more cool was that it was my dad's
600th ABA lifer. (Woohoo!!) Thanks to Randy for reporting this
outstanding bird.

In
other shorebird news, we had 3 AMERICAN AVOCETS, 40 Long-billed
Dowitchers, 1 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER, 8 Least Sandpipers, 1 Greater and
3 Lesser Yellowlegs and a few Killdeer. We first found the
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper with the rest of the shorebirds on the north end
of the westernmost pond, but not long afterward most of them flew to
the southern pond, where we were able to relocate the Sharp-tailed. If
you try for this bird, keep in mind the private property situation
outlined by Randy in his previous post and be on your best behavior.

For
the remainder of the day, we birded vagrant traps in Adams, Franklin,
and Columbia Counties. We didn't turn up anything exceptional, but had
some good birds. The weather alternated between rain and wind, rarely
without one of the two or both. Washtucna was pretty dead aside from
one good Yellow-rumped Warbler flock just north of Bassett Park and a
small number of other assorted migrants. Palouse Falls SP had a good
mix of species once we dug past the wind and the rain which were
especially bad at times. We spent a good bit of time covering Lyons
Ferry SP, where we found a couple concentrations of birds and had some
great species. Finally, we tried the Lyons Ferry Marina on the
Columbia County side of the river, where we found ourselves in the
middle of a good migrant flock in spite of increasing winds. Details
on the specific locations are outlined below.

Hatton Coulee Rest Area, Adams County

Wilson's Warbler - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1

Killdeer - 7

American Pipit - 2


Bassett Park, Washtucna, Adams County (10:20-11:35am)

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Wild Turkey - 5
California Quail - 250 at the south end
Barn Swallow - 2
Northern Flicker - 7
Hermit Thrush - 6
Varied Thrush - 1
Hammond's Flycatcher - 1
House Wren - 1
BEWICK'S WREN - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 25
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 6
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 50
White-crowned Sparrow - 5
Spotted Towhee - 2
Dark-eyed Junco - 4
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 1


Palouse Falls SP, Franklin County (12:05-12:50pm)


PEREGRINE FALCON - 1 flyby

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 8

Orange-crowned Warbler - 1

RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER - 1

Hermit Thrush - 1

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 10

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 2

Lincoln's Sparrow - 1

Chipping Sparrow - 1

White-crowned Sparrow -

Dark-eyed Junco - 3





Lyons Ferry SP, Franklin County (1:00-2:30pm)



Western Grebe - 3

California Gull - 4

Wood Duck - 6

Wild Turkey - 8

RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER - showed signs of possibly being a hybrid Red-naped X Yellow-bellied

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 60

Orange-crowned Warbler - 1

Wilson's Warbler - 1

Varied Thrush - 1

Hermit Thrush - 1

Townsend's Solitaire - 2

Barn Swallow - 8

House Wren - 1

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 20

Dark-eyed Junco - 6

Lincoln's Sparrow - 1

White-crowned Sparrow - 35

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW - 1 tan-striped





Lyons Ferry Marina, Columbia County (2:30-3pm)



American Robin - 1

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 60

Dark-eyed Junco - 4

White-crowned Sparrow - 4

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 12

Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1

Downy Woodpecker - 1





In spite of spending the day soaked and cold, we had a great time
birding this part of the state, which was a big switch from the Pend
Oreille highlands of the day before.



Michael and Roger Woodruff

Spokane, WA


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