The last 3 days, I birded the Columbia Basin, looking for shorebirds.

August 20, 2012

Grant County

STP on Frontage Rd at I90 Rest Stop east of George:
Killdeer
Long-billed Dowitcher - 1 adult
Spotted Sandpiper - 3
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 4 or more
Western Sandpiper - about 50
Least Sandpiper - 5 juv
Baird's Sandpiper - 8
Wilson's Phalarope - 1
Red-necked Phalarope - 8 juv

Dodson Road
Greater Yellowlegs
Wilson's Snipe
Black-necked Stilt

County Line Ponds - water very low
Baird's Sandpiper - 20 juv
American Avocet - 2

Lind Coulee - water very high
no shorebirds

Perch Point
Solitary Sandpiper - 1
Least Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher - 1 juv

Soap Lake
Black-necked Stilt - 4
Least Sandpiper -
Western Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Red-necked Phalarope - more than 100
Wilson's Phalarope - 6
Baird's Sandpiper - 20

Adams County

Para Ponds
Stilt Sandpiper - 7
Semipalmated Plover - 1
Western Sandpiper - 30
Long-billed Dowitcher - 20

August 21, 2012

Adams County

Cow Lake - high water
Least Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs

Lincoln County

Sprague STP
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Stilt Sandpiper - 13
Long-billed Dowitcher - 4
Wilson's Phalarope
Baird's Sandpiper
Semipalmated Plover - 1
Least Sandpiper
Red-necked Phalarope
Western Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper


August 22, 2012

Grant County

Potholes (NW corner)
Western Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper - 1 juv; the only pec I saw on my trip!
Baird's Sandpiper - 4
Black-necked Stilt - 3
Killdeer
Semipalmated Plover - 1
Least Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Long-billed Dowitcher - 4
Semipalmated Sandpiper

Other birds of note include a young Peregrine Falcon at the Sprague STP and also one at Potholes.
An adult Tundra Swan in a pond along Hwy 23 south of Sprague, north of the Whitman County line.
Also, swarms of hundreds of Bank Swallows south of Sprague Lake.

For images:
http://www.pbase.com/marvbreece/new_images_of_washington_birds

Marv Breece
Seattle, WA
marvbreece at q.com