Hi everyone,
yesterday while doing a birdathon big day with Sam and Zack Riley, Tristan
Higgins and myself we located a Band-Tailed Pigeon at the parking lot for
the Ginkgo Petrified Forest interpretive trail. the bird was hanging out in
some of the smaller introduced trees and then flew into the top of the big
ponderosa pine and wouldn't come down for a decent photo. as I understand
it, band tails are not to common near Vantage. also at the park were many
yellow, one Wilson's, and one Nashville warbler. a warbling vireo was also
present.
We ended our big day with 125 birds and quite a few misses that
included Turkey Vulture, Belted Kingfisher, Green Wing Teal, and Bald eagle
(we started west of the mountains). we all saw one life bird which was a
Yellow Breasted Chat in the Columbia NWR. we have not officially counted yet
but we raised roughly $3000.
We would like to recognize Jim Riley and Fred Higgins, for being
excellent drivers and navigators, with only a few hours sleep and only
minimal coffee consumption.

Brendan Higgins
Seattle WA
frogdude at gmail.com