Subject: [Tweeters] Re: [inland-NW-birders] Stevens & Pend Oreille Shorebirds
Date: Sep 15 22:13:22 2011
From: Michael Hobbs - BirdMarymoor at frontier.com


Just to finish up with the trip report from the last 4 days:

I?d meant to mention that I had a MERLIN at the south end of Calispel Lake on Tuesday.

Also, I had a very good meal and beer at the new USK GRILL in Usk. It?s really nice to have a great place to eat over there. I met the owners, and they were very nice too.

In Whitman County on Tuesday, 9/13, I drove a few of the roads generally in the area of Rock Lake. On Belsby Rd., I had both LINCOLN?S and GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS. On Stephen Rd. were several AMERICAN PIPITS. At Rock Lake was a GREAT EGRET.

Wednesday, 9/14, I hit a couple of spots in Franklin County before spending the day in Benton.

At the Mesa STP, I had BAIRD?S, PECTORAL, LEAST, WESTERN, and 1-2 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS along with KILLDEER and WILSON?S SNIPE.

At the gravel pit on Pasco-Kahlotus Rd. (2.2 miles N of US-12), there was a GREATER YELLOWLEGS.

Bateman Island and Wye Levee Park had a bunch of shorebirds: KILLDEER, AMERICAN AVOCET(1), GREATER & LESSER YELLOWLEGS, WESTERN & LEAST & PECTORAL SANDPIPER, RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, and WILSON?S SNIPE. There may have been more species, but they all fled when a PEREGRINE FALCON came in for breakfast. There were also at least a dozen GREAT EGRET there.

At Whitcomb Island, there were KILLDEER, LESSER YELLOWLEGS, WESTERN SANDPIPER, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER(1), and an AMERICAN BITTERN that flushed as I pushed my way through the bullrushes to get a better look at the dowitcher.

All over the NE part of the state were huge numbers of WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS and good numbers of LINCOLN?S SPARROWS. YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS were by far the most common warbler. Otherwise, there was very little in the way of passerine migration noted.

A good trip.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== http://www.marymoor.org/BirdBlog.htm
== birdmarymoor at frontier.com

From: Michael Hobbs
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 12:59 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu ; inland-nw-birders at uidaho.edu
Subject: [inland-NW-birders] Stevens & Pend Oreille Shorebirds

Hi all ? I?m on my 3rd day of a 4 day swing through E. WA, hitting Stevens County yesterday and Pend Oreille today.
Yesterday, at m.p. 54 on SR-25 near Gifford, there were two COMMON TERN on the sandbar island. Then I stopped at Key Point near Kettle Falls (Stevens), and the spot looked wonderful but yielded only 2 GREATER YELLOWLEGS and about 8 WILSON?S SNIPE.
The big bonanza was at the Colville STP, where I found 12 species of shorebird!
Killdeer Several
Semipalmated Plover 1
Solitary Sandpiper 2
Greater Yellowlegs 6?
Lesser Yellowlegs 4?
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
Western Sandpiper 5
Least Sandpiper 8?
Baird?s Sandpiper 4
Pectoral Sandpiper 7?
Wilson?s Snipe 8
Today, in P.O. County, the best birding was along the riverside road that runs north from the Pow Wow grounds. I had CINNAMON TEAL and BLUE-WINGED TEAL, about a dozen yellowlegs, about evenly split between GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS, and several AMERICAN PIPIT. There were 2-3 NORTHERN HARRIER around Calispel Lake.
And just a few minutes ago, I had a SEMIPALMATED PLOVER and another yellowlegs on a sand spit along Le Clerc Rd. S., near the entrance to the Saddle Ranch Resort.
Oh, and this morning I was awoken by a BARRED OWL at the first campground along Tacoma Creek Rd. northwest of Cusick.
== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== http://www.marymoor.org/BirdBlog.htm
== birdmarymoor at frontier.com