Today I headed out to the east end of Riffe Lake in search of the Great Egret that Rick & Tina Taylor had seen a few days ago. I arrived at 9:50am and found the GREAT EGRET by the shore of the lake within 5 minutes. The water level of the lake has gone down quite a bit from two weeks ago, but still remains high enough for the lack of shorebird activity. While scanning the lake I noticed a large flock of waterfowl close by in a sheltered area on the lake. I drove over to the lake access area, less than a quarter mile, just past the bridge. Walked out to the lake and checked them out. There were MALLARDS, CANADA GEESE, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, 2 HOODED MERGANSERS, NORTHERN PINTAILS, AMERICAN WIGEON, 1 AMERICAN COOT, and 3 either CINNAMON or BLUE-WINGED TEAL. Just as I was about leave, I noticed a small gull like bird diving further out on the lake. It turned out to be a FORSTER'S TERN. Further scanning, I found 8 of them. I wathced them for while before heading over to the Taidnapum Boat Launch. At the boat launch there were 40+ CALIFORNIA GULLS, 1 BALD EAGLE, 1 SPOTTED SANDPIPER, 8 COMMON MERGANSERS, and lots of little toads. Other birds seen at the east end of the lake were;
BAND-TAILED PIGEON - 3
VAUX'S SWIFT - 1
RED-TAILED HAWK - 1
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT
OSPREY - 1
TURKEY VULTURE - 1

With such a successful morning, I tried my luck on the west end of the lake, checking Swoford Pond as well. Very quiet at this end. I had 1 AMERICAN DIPPER, 11 GADWALL, 2 BELTED KINGFISHER, 7 GREEN-WINGED TEAL, and 2 NORTHERN PINTAIL.
A stop at the Salmon Hatchery got me 2 COMMON GOLDENEYE and 1 OPSREY. And a stop at the trout hatchery got me 3 more SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, 1 TURKEY VULTURE and a large flock of CEDAR WAXWINGS.

Dave Hayden
dtvhm AT nwrain.com
Centralia, WA