It might have been good enough just to arrive home from a cancelled appointment to find a varied thrush, for the first time ever in my ponderosa pine yard, picking at corn under the feeders. But the cancelled appointment meant that my day was free so Lindell Haggin and I set off to see the long-tailed ducks that Doug and Barb reported behind Wanapum Dam yesterday.



We found a pair from the Grant County side just above the dam. They were very active, often diving in unison and surfacing close enough together to see both in the scope. They finally stayed on the surface after the male came up with a fish and downed it. Like Barb and Doug, we watched in cold rain. We did not see a second female.



We carefully searched the Othello cemetery, both coming and going, but did not find white-winged crossbills. A great-horned owl watched us from one of the pines on the west side. There were rare golden-crowned kinglets, mourning dove, American robins and vocal magpies that would sometimes fool us with their chatter. We enjoyed the "spring's arriving" reminder from a western meadowlark singing in the adjacent field.



The burrowing owl reported by Randy yesterday along the ditch road north of Sutton must have been hunkered down to avoid all of the heavy equipment working in the adjacent field. We could not find it with our glasses or scope.



We saw a Harlan's hawk east of Othello on Hwy 26 near Billington Road. It flew from a fence post along the hwy to a row of poplars at a farm north of the road.



It was nearly dusk when we got to Washtucna. We weren't able to shake lose any owls but did enjoy a gorgeous and colorful display by the dominant male turkey of the town flock, with two subordinant males showing color but clear submission.



Fun, Kim

Kim Marie Thorburn, MD, MPH

509-465-3025 phone 509-465-4695 fax