Weather was better than expected so I visited some Columbia NWR areas today.
A late start so cranes were already in the air around 11 am. They are still
using Corfu corn field (Road C SE) and at Road E X 15.1 SE. Corfu Road
willows had a Swainson's Hawk return. The flooded pasture south of Crab
Creek at the bottom end of Corfu Road had sing Greater and Lesser
Yellowlegs. The County Line Ponds had 3K+ Canada and Cackling Geese, a
single G.Yellowlegs, 10 American Avocets, and 21 Black-necked Stilts. Royal
Lake and Royal Slough were loaded with Canada and Cackling Geese (18K+), 10K
Mallards, and 12K Northern Pintails, plus a single Red-necked Grebe. The
Para Ponds also had a Greater Yellowlegs, 3 avocets, and 7 stilts, none of
which were present yesterday when I checked.



Randy Hill

Othello/Ridgefield