Tom Mansfield, MaryFrances Mathis, and I made our way across Franklin County
this afternoon and found some very good birds.

On SR-260, just east of Connell, there was a MERLIN perched on the side of
the road.

Furthur east, we stopped at a grove of trees where Tom said we'd find GREAT
HORNED OWL, which we did. Also at that grove were six AMERICAN TREE
SPARROWS.

About five miles north of Lyons Ferry, in treeless Palouse fields, we saw
some HORNED LARKS. As Tom was stopping the car, though, he noticed a
different bird by the side of the road. We backed up and found a male
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL eating seeds out of the standing weeds on the side of
the road. Everything was covered in a thick layer of frost, there wasn't a
tree or bush in sight, and there was this crossbill. We had absolutely
stunning looks as it fed just outside the car windows.

We then proceeded to Lyons Ferry and stopped at the fish hatchery. Tom and
I saw some largish finches with some goldfinches, and when they took off,
they gave the "kip kip" call of RED CROSSBILLS.

We then crossed the street to Lyons Ferry Park to look (unsuccessfully) for
owls. I was poking under a conifer when I noted stuff falling from the
tree. Moving out from under it, I found 4 more WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS.
Another tree held about a dozen, so I'd say at least 15 White-wings were
there.

I believe this is the first time WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL has been reported
from Franklin County (unless someone had one earlier this winter and I
missed the report). Tom got lots of photos, which should turn out
stunningly.

We also had a beautiful GOLDEN EAGLE near the first crossbill.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== http://www.marymoor.org/BirdBlog.htm
== birdmarymoor at verizon.net