Hello All,

Our day started out under an overcast sky spitting rain and a coastal type mist as we all met at Hood Park in northwestern Walla Walla County. There were 15 birders from all over Oregon and Washington. A great group to go after owls with. We started right at Hood Park where Tom Mansfield located our first owl, a single Great Horned Owl. MerryLynn then called on the FRS hand held radio that she had relocated the adult Red-breasted Sapsucker that we had located the weekend before. All participants got great views of this third Walla Walla County record Red-breasted Sapsucker. Because this was not a sapsuckers by day trip we continued south to Dodd Rd. where we picked up two Barn Owls in a cavity in a dirt bank. As we returned to HWY 12 along Dodd Rd. we saw 48 Snow Geese in a corn field. Turning north we headed across McNary NWR where we located two early Great Egrets along Humorist Rd.. So the following is a list of the owls located on this damp, cool owling adventure.

Great Horned Owl..........9 birds
Barn Owl.........................11 birds
Northern Saw-whet Owl..4 birds
Long-eared Owl...............7 birds

Then we saw 7 more Barn Owls on the way home from Windust Park.

Other birds of interest seen on this WOS fieldtrip.

Coopers Hawk.........1 female
Spotted Sandpiper..1bird at Ice Harbor Dam
Peregrine Falcon.....1 ad. at Ice Harbor Dam
Am. White Pelican...6 ad. Ice Harbor Dam
Barrows Goldeneye. 2 males Ice Harbor Dam
Merlin-1bird Fishook Park
Common Redpoll.....7 birds along HWY 261, 5 birds near Windust Park
Gray-crowned Rosy Finches..16 birds Diablo Canyon

This was a fun trip with a wonderful group of folks. I would like to thank them for supporting the tenth year of this WOS fieldtrip. For a complete account of this fieldtrip please see the WOS web site under field trip write-ups.
Thank-you Mike and MerryLynn Denny


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Mike & MerryLynn Denny
Birding the beautiful Walla Walla Valley

"If you haven't birded, you haven't lived"