Tweets,

Today Barb and I birded the lower parts of Grant County from Moses Lake to
Coulee City.

We began by searching for the Northern Saw-whet Owl at Pioneer Memorial
Gardens in Moses Lake. While we did not find the small owl, we did have
several nice looks at BARN OWL, a sometimes difficult bird. As we left we
witnessed a MERLIN (columbarius sub-species) chase down and catch a House
Sparrow.

We then headed north toward Soap Lake. Along the route we saw many American
Kestrels and several large groups of Horned Larks among the expected
species. A nice find was a PRAIRIE FALCON along SR-17.

Soap Lake held the usual suspects and we moved on to Coulee City where
birding was generally slow though we saw a Northern Shrike near the Dry
Falls Interpretive Center. We headed back to Moses Lake via Pinto Ridge Road
which was extremely foggy and held a few nice Rough-legged Hawks, but little
else.

We decided to try for a Snowy Owl south of Moses Lake before dark and while
we did not find a Snowy Owl we did find 4 or 5 SHORT-EARED OWLS hunting
between Road 3 & 4 SE. This is more than I have seen in Grant County at one
time. In addition to the Short-eared Owls we found another nice PRAIRIE
FALCON to end a wonderful day.

Cheers

Doug Schonewald
Moses Lake, WA

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