Today, I had a grand day of birding in Lewis County. My first stop was at the Cowlitz Trout Hatchery. Here I had
TURKEY VULTURE - 1
OSPREY - 2
RED-TAILED HAWK - 2
WILLOW FLYCATCHER
PACIFC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER
YELLOW WARBLER
WESTERN TANAGER
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK
BULLOCK'S ORIOLE - 1 (in the Cottonwood trees along the river)

Next, it was on to the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery. Here I had
OSPREY - 1
SPOTTED SANDPIPER - 2
WESTERN WOOD PEWEE - 1
WILLOW FLYCATCHER
HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER
PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER
WARBLING VIREO
RED-EYED VIREO - 1 (singing in the Cottonwood trees across from the main facility)
SWAINSON'S THRUSH
CEDAR WAXWING
WILSON'S WARBLER

As I worked my way east, I made a stop at the east end of Riffe Lake. The water levels are really high now. Here I had
WOOD DUCK - 1
NORTHERN HARRIER - 1
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD - 1
WILLOW FLYCATCHER
WARBLING VIREO
BUSHTIT
CEDAR WAXWING

I made a quick stop at the clearcut on Falls Rd. MP2. Here I had
TURKEY VULTURE - 1
WESTERN BLUEBIRD - 1 male sitting on a snag in the back.
MacGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER - 1
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW

My last stop was at Peters Road. I ran into Michael Hobbs and exchanged sightings. He pointed me in the direction of the Lazuli Bunting in which I did get. But before we parted ways, we tried for the American Bittern that I heard call three times before Michael had shown up.
Here I had
AMERICAN BITTERN - 1 called 3 times and then went silent
TURKEY VULTURE - 1
BANK SWALLOW
LAZULI BUNTING - 1

I did this particular route based on sightings for Red-eyed Vireo (Ken Knittle and Tom Mansfield) and Bullock's Oriole (Rick Taylor ?) from last year, and the Lazuli Bunting (Russ Koppendrayer) from a couple of weeks ago. Looks like lightning does strike at least twice.

Dave Hayden
dtvhm AT nwrain.com
Centralia, WA