Tweets,

Yesterday I led a Seattle Audubon trip to the Moses Lake area. In spite of
the early morning deluge the weather cooperated reasonably well, though the
wind kicked up considerably throughout the day and created some problems for
birds and birders alike,
Ten brave souls made the long trek from Seattle and the group was excellent
to bird with.
Our first stop was at Soap Lake where we birded both the East Beach and
West Beach. While the shorebird numbers were fairly low, the diversity was
not too bad. We had many Killdeer, several Greater Yellowlegs, Long-billed
Dowitcher, a single Pectoral Sandpiper and a single Western Sandpiper,
several Least Sandpipers, a Baird's Sandpiper, and a single juvenile
SANDERLING among the shorebirds. A hunting American Kestrel, American
Pipits, House Sparrows, and large numbers of starlings also were on the
beaches along with a smattering of Ring-billed Gulls. As usual at this site
the lake was covered with good numbers of Ruddy Ducks, Eared Grebes,
Northern Shovelers, a single Lesser Scaup, a handful of Barrow's Goldeneye,
and a few coots. Also present was a largish flock of migrating Western
Grebes numbering ~20.
From Soap Lake we traveled to Potholes State Park. Along the way we saw a
single Prairie Falcon, good numbers of Brewer's Blackbirds, a few kestrels,
one or two Northern Harriers, a few Western Meadowlarks, and little else.
Raptors we notably absent during the entire trip.
At Potholes State Park we tried to do a little birding for passerines, but
the wind made things almost impossible. We managed to find a good number of
Yellow-rumped Warblers, a few Orange-crowned Warblers including a very nice
bird of the orestera race, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Spotted
towhee, Bewick's Wren, Hermit Thrush, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Ruby-crowned
and Golden-crowned Kinglets, a fly-by Varied Thrush, and a few juncos. An
interesting pre-migration flock of Barn Swallows at the park probably
numbered over 100 as they fed over the lake. We also had a flushed Great
Horned Owl seen by a few trip members. Probably our best bird was a very
late EMPIDONAX flycatcher. Extremely brief views left us feeling Hammond's,
but certain ID was unclear. Common Loon, Red-necked Grebe, and good numbers
of Western/Clark's Grebes were on the lake. Along the shore we had ~5
Bonaparte's Gulls to add to our short list of gulls.
Our last stop was Lind Coulee where we found a few new birds for the trip.
Outstanding for the are were 5 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS. We also managed to
find good numbers of both Pectoral Sandpipers and Long-billed Dowitchers. A
Cooper's Hawk put up all the shorebirds briefly. Loads of Green-winged Teal
dotted the shoreline. Two Great Egrets hunted the shallows and an early
Common Merganser cruised about the shallows. A single Double-crested
Cormorant was the only one seen on the day. As we left a stooping Prairie
Falcon offered better views than the first, but still not what we would have
liked.
I won't include a full trip list, but the total species for the day was 68.
Many waterbirds were missed as we chose not to brave the nasty weather by
going further north than Soap Lake, and with the conditions we had a fun and
respectable day.

Cheers

Doug Schonewald
Moses Lake, WA

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