On Sunday (3/18/12), Cindy McCormack, Gary Lee, and headed south on a very chilly, overcast day, to bird Asotin County.?Upon our arrival in Swallows Park, we were thrilled to see a ROSS'S GOOSE that was placidly grazing on the lawn with some Canada Geese. We also enjoyed chatting with intrepid, west-side birder, Mary Francis.

Farther up the river, we discovered that there are no more rapids at Ten Mile Rapids. As a result, there were no gull concentrations south of Asotin. However, we did note SAY'S PHOEBE, CHUKAR, BEWICK'S WREN, TREE SWALLOW, and hundreds of VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWs.

On Weissenfel's Ridge, we encountered more CHUKARs, WESTERN BLUEBIRD, WESTERN MEADOWLARK, and AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, Up on Anatone Flats, there was a cold northwesterly wind to contend with, but we did see MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, ROUGH-WINGED HAWK, NORTHERN SHRIKE. However, our diligent search for Snowy Owl resulted in no joy.?

In the town of Anatone, we saw a smaller number of Redpolls than were present fon my previous visit, as well as the expected contingent of HOUSE FINCH, AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, and RW-BLACKBIRDs. In the town of Asotin, we re-found the roosting WESTERN SCREECH OWL.

A re-check of Swallows Park netted us two THAYER'S GULLs that were mixed in with the usual CALIFORNIA & RING-BILLED GULLs. At Clarkston Cliffs, we saw a PEREGRINE FALCON (which was tip from Mary Francis), GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH -6, ROCK WREN, and three BARN OWLs in cliffside nest holes.?

Closing the day at dusk, we dipped once more on the Anatone Flats Snowy Owl, but we did see a GREAT HORNED OWL.?Fortunately, we find a great consolation bird, a SHORT-EARED OWL!?

Since I hadn't seen any report of SE Owls in Asotin County this winter, this was a very pleasant surprise. It was located at the jintersection of Davis and Savage Roads.?This particular Short-eared Owl was particularly spunky. It aggressively dived and gave to chase to a Raven, and then perched victoriously on a fence post.

After dark, we were driving northward on the Palouse toward Pullman, and I noticed a bright vertical column of pink of light in the sky. At first, I though was it might be a light pillar that was caused by ground light source. However, the sky was now clear, and I realized that it must be aurora borealis. After parking the car off the highway, and could see a nice substorm developing. The aurora brightened and formed much more distinct features. There was a very tall pink curtain anchored by brighter rays to the north, and a light green curtain with rays to the northeast. Later, a bright isolated yellow ray appeared south of the zenith. The aurora lasted from around 8:30-9:00 PM.

Upon my arrival at home, I checked in with spaceweather.com?and discovered that a cornonal hole generated the this auroral event by streaming a high speed solar wind to Earth.?Aside from the scientific explanation, ?it was a very lovely?pastel colored, display, and it was Cindy's" lifer" northern lights experience.

Yours in Spokane,

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA