Tweets,



Had a great weekend birding on Sunday, May 9 in Eastern Washington. Started
out at the Ginkgo Petrified Forest Visitor's Center.it was hopping. I had
only planned to spend a little bit of time there, but there were so many
birds we were stayed for about two hours, also checking out the migrant
traps on Recreation Road (following the trail that leads to the Quilomene)
and at the boat launch at the end of Recreation Road (thank you, Mark
Johnson and Dennis Paulson for introducing me to these two spots).
Yellow-rumped Warblers galore, also NASHVILLE WARBLER, MCGILLIVRAY'S
WARBLER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, a half dozen WARBLING VIREOS, a
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, a pair of WESTERN TANAGERS, WESTERN KINGBIRD and
SAY'S PHOEBE and some unidentified empidonax flycatchers (I'm thinking
Dusky). There were a couple of LARK SPARROW in the sagebrush surrounding
the center. Driving down Recreation Road, there were at least three dueling
ROCK WRENS. Next, headed over to Frenchman's Coulee, great views of
WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS. After descending through the coulee, we saw several
SAGE SPARROWS in the (guess what?) sage brush, as well as a LOGGERHEAD
SHRIKE.



Quincy Lakes seemed relatively quiet, although there were a pair of
SWAINSON'S HAWKS overhead.



The ponds along Dodson Road seemed quiet, although had nice looks at GREAT
EGRET, a few CINNAMON TEAL and a pair of REDHEAD. The most activity was at
the ponds at the intersection of Frenchman Hills and Dodson Road. I had
thought there would have been more avocet and stilt; there were no avocet,
and only about a half dozen BLACK-NECKED STILT. The aural landscape was
wonderful what with sounds of the feisty and comical YELLOW-HEADED
BLACKBIRDS and the winnowing of snipe.



Megan Lyden

Bellevue, Wa.