Andy Stepniewski (Steppe Habitat Master) showed Jason Riggins, Angie Begosh,
and I some great birding today on a long adventure through Kittitas and
Grant counties. We spent the morning scouting steppe habitat around
Kittitas, Old Vantage Highway and Frenchman Coulee then focused on a search
for Ferruginous Hawk around Wilson Creek in the afternoon. We saw a
Rough-legged Hawk in the pasture which also had two Bald Eagles first thing
in the morning just outside Kittitas. While searching for raptors around
Wilson Creek we saw 3 Golden Eagles, some Harriers, and over a dozen
Red-tailed Hawks (and as many Ravens). We also got distracted by the
thousands of waterfowl and Wilson Creek marsh life including about six
Tri-colored Blackbirds (lifer for me). We almost gave up on the Ferruginous
Hawk but backtracked and located a pair hanging nearly stationary in stiff
wind which made for great viewing. On the drive back on I-90 to Ellensburg
(while I was sleeping) Andy spotting a pair of Swainson's Hawk outside of
George. Fortunately it warranted an emergence stop so everyone could see
our fourth buteo species. Other highlights of the trip included American
White Pelican (50+ in Brooks Lake), American Avocet, Long-billed Curlew,
White-throated Swift, Say's Phoebe, Mountain Bluebird, Sage Thrasher, Sage
Sparrow, Brewer's Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow some of which were life birds for
Jason or Angie. Appropriately strange, my find for the day was 8 Wild
Turkeys in wide open farmland east of Soap Lake. My list for our trip has
70 birds but know Andy heard a few more. Also on the way home I added 2
Osprey, 11 Turkey Vultures, 2 Common Merganser, and another Rough-legged
Hawk between Ellensberg and NorthBend. I think I can speak for the group
that it was a fun and exciting day.


Bob Schmidt
Bothell, WA
bobs at world-wide dot com