Subject: [Tweeters] RFI: Suggestions for Central and Eastern Washington next
Date: Oct 8 22:13:58 2012
From: Bob Schmidt - bobs at world-wide.com
I have some new friends coming into town from Ohio and thought I might show
them some scenery east of the mountains to contrast couple of days they will
also be spending on the Olympic peninsula with another friend.
My planned trip is somewhat reminiscent of a "big" October day 7 years ago
when I took yet another friend from Trinidad on in the coulees and potholes
regions. He loved the scenery and discussions of natural history even though
we only saw about 70 bird species. This time we will have almost 2 full
days and I would obviously like to show the new folks the same kind of fun
trip. However I am a little concerned about the following:
1) Fires
2) Drought
3) Hunting season
4) Possible change of weather
5) Perceived lack of rare bird sighting and other information from the
central part of the state over the last few weeks.
Last trip we also had the fortune of meeting up with a NWR manager in the
late afternoon and really boosted our list before dusk. Since I have been
at least casually birding in eastern Washignton for 30 years I know some
places where I have seen some great birds and wildlife, but I am writing for
any help or suggestions to make this the most productive adventure given the
circumstances. I would welcome any comments off or on line ranging from "I
saw a Hawk Owl divebombing a Cougar at Hart's Pass last weekend but decided
not to report it" to "don't go to X mountain because all I saw there was
smoke" to head "south or west instead". Seriously I promise to read
anything you send me but would be especially interested in reports from the
Wenatchee, Banks Lake, coulee lakes, potholes, Crab Creek, Kittatas, or
Yakima regions. Of course if another rarity like Ross's Gull or Variegated
Flycatcher were to show up we might alter our plans. ;-)
Bob Schmidt, Bothell, WA
bobs at world hyphen wide dot com