Tom Mansfield and I drove though deep snow to get to Coldwater Lake this morning. No Bonaparte's Gull, but did find the Barrow's Goldeneye. No Golden Eagle or Rosy-Finches either. On the way back a Townsend's Solitaire, a few Band-tailed Pigeons, and a Hutton's Vireo were along the road east of Touttle.



Our next nice bird was a Merlin diving into the top of a large tree full of blackbirds and a few crows. If the crows had not been around the Merlin would have been eating one of the blackbirds. Somehow the blackbirds knew not to leave the tree and let the crows and Merlin take turns chasing each other. This lasted for 15 mins.



Puget Island had a few Eurasian Collared-Doves and 1 Red-throated Loon in the main channel of the Columbia River seen from the western part of Puget Island. Another Red-throated Loon was in the Columbia River main channel off of Julia Butler Hansen NWR. 1 male in bright colors Eurasian Wigeon in a flock of American Wigeon on the refuge.



Beaver Creek Road still had small patches of snow on the higher parts. Red Crossbills in two flocks flew over. Not much else note-worthy as it is still winter here.











Ken Knittle
Vancouver WA 98665
mailto:washingtonbirder at hotmail.com
Washington Birder online
http://www.wabirder.com/