Subject: [Tweeters] Spring (finally) in Grant County - Wilsons snipe,
Date: Apr 8 09:10:02 2012
From: heapbigdoc at netscape.net - heapbigdoc at netscape.net


Hi -
I visited one of my favorite spots yesterday - a micro-migrant trap on Kramer Road just east of Old Coulee Highway in Grant Co., WA north of Almira. The spot is a tiny island of trees, brush, and soggy grass in the middle of wheat fields.

Highlights were:
- Loggerhead shrike (FOY) - broad eye band, rounded head, stubby bill and clear gray breast with no hint of brown or barring
- Ruby Crowned kinglet (FOY - just the one?!)
- Ring-necked pheasant - a rooster with at least 9 girlfriends
- a wisp of 17 Wilson's snipe (FOY)
- a pair of nesting red-tails
- two pair of very noisy killdeer
- lots red-winged blackbirds

On the way down and back via Wilbur we saw an amazing number of rough-legged hawks - at least 20. At one spot, there were rough-legs on three consecutive telephone poles. Makes me wonder if this is a migration corridor for birds who winter in the north Columbia Basin.

-Roy Myers, Electric City, WA