Hey Tweets!

I was able to take Friday and Saturday to (among other things!) bird from Ellensburg to Pasco and back. Finally some sun!

Friday higlights by location:

Umtanum Road and Umtanum Falls: Lots of thrushes (Western Bluebirds and Robins on the road, Varied Thrush and Townsend's Solitaire on the hike to Umtanum Falls.

Ellensburg Pass: Sooty Grouse booming at Observatory Road intersection. Vesper Sparrow before descending. Missed on White-headed Woodpeckers, but have it on good faith that they are up here!

Maloy Road: White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatches, and two very tame Vesper Sparrows.

Wenas Road: Swainson's Hawk, Western Bluebirds, Townsend's Solitaires, and a calling Common Loon on Wenas Lake. Chukar skittering across the road!

Selah Rest stop - Northbound I-82: Say's Phoebe in the little ponds behind the rest area.

Saturday's highlights:

Fort Simcoe - Cooper's Hawk, Steller's Jay, Western Scrub-Jay. No Lewis' Woodpeckers that I could see.

Toppenish NWR, Lateral C: Northern Pintails, hundreds of swallows (NRW, Barn, Tree, VG), 5 Greater Yellowlegs, and lots of winnowing Wilson's Snipe, including one that posed for me on a post!

Pumphouse Road: Savannah Sparrow, Great Blue Herons, Swainson's Hawk, lots of duckies

I-82: American White Pelicans at several points along the road on the way there and back, both in Yakima and Benton Counties.

Granger-Outlook pond - 5 Black-necked Stilts

Rattlesnake Mountain: Swainson's Hawk, Sage Sparrow, Horned Larks and Western Meadowlarks.

Sacajawea Park (Pasco): Great Egret! This flew from the slough encountered right before turning into the park.

The Swainson's Hawks were the funniest one for me - one of them flying into the distance at Rattlesnake Mountain was the first one of my life. Then I came home Saturday, and saw Randy Bjorklund's photos from his trip to Grant County. Wait a second... that Swainson's looks a lot like the 'Red-tailed Hawk' I took a picture of in Toppenish... I had my lifer Swainson's Hawk earlier than that without realizing it! More embarassing still, I had taken a picture of another on Wenas Road - also thinking "all big hawks are red-tails..." Okay, okay, I know what a Swainson's looks like now!

Hoping to head to the ocean Friday... anyone inclined to carpool?... :)

-Tim Brennan
Renton
www.39counties.blogspot.com