Hi Tweets,

I was in Ferry County this weekend and drove home today (10-10-11) by
way of Banks Lake (Douglas County). I saw no shorebirds on all of that
mud now exposed by the draw down, but had two species of interest: two
GREAT EGRETS just north of M.P. 16 on Hwy 155 and three AMERICAN WHITE
PELICANS flying south, just north of M.P. 12. The egrets were among a
large flock of AMERICAN WIGEONS. All 26 species birds seen were in and
around the north half of the lake. The northernmost bird was a COMMON
LOON. The only merganser was COMMON MERGANSER. I saw three GREBE
species: WESTERN (many), EARED (one), and PIED-BILLED (one).

In contrast to the multiple large kettles seen in Pugetopolis on
Saturday, I saw one TURKEY VULTURE just east of Tonasket. My most
interesting migrants around Republic on Saturday were a TOWNSEND's
SOLITAIRE and a LINCOLN'S SPARROW. On Sunday there were good numbers
of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS passing through. We saw them on the Vulcan
Mountain road, northwest of Curlew. Of the resident birds, two GOLDEN
EAGLES were circling around Gibraltar Peak, just southeast of Republic.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds