And congratulations, Matt, on reaching your goal this past weekend of seeing 150 species in all 39 Washington counties - Yay!

Tom Mansfield in Seattle.

________________________________
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of mattxyz at earthlink.net
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 6:03 AM
To: Tweeters; Inland NW Birds
Subject: [Tweeters] SE WA shorebirding & birding

hi Tweets & INWBers-
I spent a 3 day weekend down in the SE Corner of the state. While it wasn't intended to be a shorebirding trip, the timing was right and those were my main highlights.
I started off at dawn at the mouth of the Tuccanon river in Columbia Co, where a Spotted Sandpiper was my first shorebird. Next up, I hit the jackpot -- at mp6 on SR 261, flooded fields provided the rarest thing: Shorebird habitat in Columbia County! I spent 90 minutes scanning, and ended up with 9 more shorebird species - Several GREATER YELLOWLEGS, a LESSER YELLLOWLEGS, 10+ SOLITARY SANDPIPERS, WESTERN SANDPIPERS (~5), LEAST SANDPIPER(2-3), SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER(1-2), BAIRD'S SANDPIPER(1), WILSON'S SNIPE(2), and KILLDEER (20+). 8 of those were new for me, and 3 [LEYE, SESA & BASA] look like they are County Firsts! I returned 3 more times over the weekend, and continued to find it very active -- by Sunday evening, the yellowlegs had all left but everyone else was still present.
I hope anyone in the area has a chance to keep an eye on this spot -- Columbia Co could use its first Pectoral Sandpiper or even Stilt Sandpiper, and this field might be the place.

Next up on Saturday, I went over to Lewis & Clark State Park in western Columbia Co. As reported by others, the pond (visible from the trail off the south side of the park) was still hosting a BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON(adult). A Solitary Sandpiper was also hanging out here.

I moved on to Biscuit Ridge in Walla Walla Co -- pretty quiet up there, with no response from the Green-tailed Towhees [windy & probably too late in the season] -- best bird was a close flyover of a NORTHERN GOSHAWK.

Back in Columbia Co., I worked my way up the Tucannon River Valley, stopping mostly for the ponds to look for shorebird habitat (and shorebirds). The start of Tucannon River Rd (near SR12) offers a view of some mud along the river and a Solitary Sandpiper was present. Spring Lake & Rainbow Lake (and the fish hatchery) were both too full of water to offer any habitat. At Watson & Beaver Lake, I pulled up a Solitary Sandpiper (4th spot for the day ) and another Greater Yellowlegs. An adult Bald Eagle overhead and an American Dipper on the river were my final Saturday birds.

Sunday (8/8)
After starting the day back at the MP 6 fields, I headed to Walla Walla Co to bird Lewis Peak Rd - 2 big coveys of GRAY PARTRIDGE were working the roadsides on my way up. Along the sides, many WESTERN BLUEBIRD juvies popped up, but I never did find a recognizable Mountain Bluebird juvie.

I spent the rest of the day up in the higher parts of Columbia Co., driving south along N.Fork Touchet/64, up to Table Mtn Lookout (6200 ft), then back via FR46/Skyline Drive. EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE were still at their most reliable spot at the North/South Fork junction just south of Dayton. WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKERS were plenitful up along the high ridges. Plenty of Olive-sided Flycatchers, Cassin's Finch, Western Bluebirds & a few Calliope Hummers & Red Crossbills.

Monday (8/9)
Mostly worked on shorebird spots Monday. After starting again at the Columbia Co. MP6 fields, I went east to Garfield Co -- Garfield Co makes Columbia Co look like a shorebird mecca by comparison -- Given that Garfield has yet to record its first Least Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs or Phalarope (and just got its first Greater Yellowlegs this year), there wasn't much hope for shorebirding there. And Garfield lived up to its reputation - I managed to see a Spotted Sandpiper & a few Killdeer. At Central Ferry [mouth of Meadow Creek/Deadman Creek), I did stumble across a juvie BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON. Rice Bar HMU was pretty birdy, with lots of active Bullocks Orioles, Yellow Warblers, a couple Bewicks & Marsh Wren.

Over in Asotin Co., the Alpowa Creek Mouth had a nice selection of shorebirds: a single LESSER YELLOWLEGS, ~5 WESTERN SANDPIPERS, 1-2 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, a BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, one SPOTTED SANDPIPER & a handful of KILLDEER. At Swallows Park, on the south end, a SEMIPALMATED PLOVER was on the sandbars.

Down near Anatone, at the ponds on Savage Rd., another BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, a WILSON'S SNIPE & a couple WESTERN SANDPIPERs were on the north pond.

My final stop before driving back to Seattle was at the Hatton Rest Stop ponds on SR 26 [Adams Co]. As has been reported, this place is definitely _the_ place to be if you are migrating shorebird: In my brief stop, I counted 18 species of shorebird!
Semipalmated Plover - 1
Killdeer -many
Black-necked Stilt 10+
American Avocet 10+
Spotted Sandpiper - several
Solitary Sandpiper - 5+
Greater Yellowlegs - several
Lesser Yellowlegs - several
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 3+
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper - 1
Stilt Sandpiper - many
Long-billed Dowitcher - 1
Wilson's Snipe - 1
Wilson's Phalarope 2-3
Red-necked Phalarope 2-3

Not a bad ending for the weekend.

Matt Bartels
Seattle , WA




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