On Thursday (5/08/08), Jon Isacoff ventured out on a
brisk day with partly cloudy skies. Although the sun
promised to warm things up, a biting wind continued to
blow across the Columbia Plateau and kept the temps
chilly.

Perhaps as result of the cold wind and low temps,
passerines were conspicuous by their absence. We found
very little in the woodlands, but there were some nice
waterfowl for us to gaze upon. The highlights were all
three species of teal and a BLACK-NECKED STILT in the
same binocular view, several LEAST SANDPIPERs, a
WILSON'S PHALAROPE, six species of swallows, and
plenty of BLACK TERNs.

Later, we drove through Fairfield (Spokane County),
and easily spotted three EURASIAN COLLARED DOVEs.
Pushing on into Whitman County, we birded around the
town of Tekoa. The Tekoa City Park held a RUBY-CROWNED
KINGLET, CASSIN'S FINCH, and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW.

A productive stop en route, was the Oaksdale STP
(south of town). A small but interesting mix of ducks
were present. Species here included LESSER SCAUP, WOOD
DUCK (tough for Whitman Co.), BUFFLEHEAD, RUDDY DUCK,
and NO. SHOVELER.

Steptoe Butte State Park was quiet overall. We did see
LAZULI BUNTING and VESPER SPARROW, but not much else.
Perhaps, the most satisfying bird of the day for me,
was a single EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE in the town of
Steptoe. The Euro Dove was a Whitman County lifer for
me. During our search for the dove, we noted a
CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA


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