Hi Everyone,

Here is a slightly more detailed report on the trip Mason Flint, Evan Houston and I took on Saturday east of the mountains. We logged 67 species for the day. A few of the highlights are shown below.

Old Vantage Highway
WESTERN MEADOWLARKS singing everywhere - and everywhere else we went during the day.
SANDHILL CRANE - A small flight (9 to 10 birds) of cranes was seen heading northwest. This was in the morning, so perhaps they were heading to a feeding location.
NORTHERN SHRIKE - One seen near the composting station, another one with very close looks seen near the high point of the road.
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD - Three seen near the second Northern Shrike area.

Gingko State Park
SAY'S PHOEBE - Near boat launch road.
ROCK WREN - Singing on rock outcropping near boat launch road.

Huntzinger Road
Two CHUKAR seen less than 30 feet away near Wanapum Dam - we kept looking higher on the cliffs for the birds we heard and then they materialized low and close!

Lower Crab Creek Road
Two LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE.
FERRUGINOUS HAWK reported yesterday.

Birder's Corner (Frenchman Hills Road and Dodson Road)
TUNDRA SWANS
GREATER YELLOWLEGS
EURASIAN WIGEON - probable hybrid

Duck and geese were pretty cooperative all day, with the following seen:
COMMON MERGANSER
CANADA GOOSE
CACKLING GOOSE
MALLARD
RUDDY DUCK
BUFFLEHEAD
NORTHERN SHOVELER
LESSER SCAUP
GREATER SCAUP
HOODED MERGANSER
AMERICAN WIGEON
EURASIAN WIGEON
NORTHERN PINTAIL
GREEN-WINGED TEAL
CANVASBACK
GADWALL
RING-NECKED DUCK
REDHEAD

Raptors were so-so, with AMERICAN KESTREL the only falcon seen, although NORTHERN HARRIER (including one very nice adult male) were numerous and, of course, RED-TAILED HAWK were very plentiful. The Ferruginous Hawk made up for the lack of other hoped-for species.

Sparrows were downright difficult - we came away with only SONG SPARROW, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, and SAVANNAH SPARROW for the entire day.

The day ended on a nice note, with two GREAT HORNED OWLS seen perched up on poles in the Ellensburg-Elk Heights stretch of I-90 as the last light faded from the sky.


John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net
www.tubbsphoto.com