Hello All,

A beautiful mostly clear warm day. Really very plesent with most of the smoke from the Wenatchee fires staying off to the west. Just as we were getting ready to depart the Mardon Resort docks a flight of 15 Sandhill Cranes flew over without so much as a note. Then a large flock of more than 85 Northern Pintails came over all headed to the southeast and on into Columbia NWR. The lake was calm and smooth this morning at 7 am as we chugged around the west shore looking for shorebirds. The first group of shorebirds were a mix of three Sanderlings, eight Western Sandpipers, a Least and several Killdeers. Echoing out across the lake were the location calls of dozens Western Grebes and their chicks. Soon three American White Pelicans came flying up behind the boat out of the early morning light in the east. It was cool at about 53 degrees F with a slight breeze out of the north. Captin Levi Meesburg expertly guided the boat through the shallows as we looked for more birds. Suddenly an adult Peregrine Falcon took off from a tree just south of the Potholes SP and headed rapidly along the south shore of the lake. The water level has been drawn down more than 15 feet as irrigators make demands for water. This exposes many acres of sand and mud along the shoreline that are normally under water. Following is a list of birds seen with notes.

Canada Geese......47 birds
Mallard....................13 birds
American Wigeon..18 birds
Northern Pintail.......113 birds
Hooded Merganser.3 birds
Ruddy Duck..............21 birds
Common Loon.........5 birds- a bit early for this site
Pied-billed Grebe....4 birds
Horned Grebe......... 9 birds
Eared Grebe........... 1 bird
Red-necked Grebe. 1 bird-uncommon fall species
Clark's Grebe............45 birds with gray fuzzy chicks-this is late to have young at this stage.
Western Grebe..........315 birds with very young birds, also saw many pairs up and running over the lake. Pair bonding behavior tied to photo-period.
Double-crested Cormorant- 525 birds.
American White Pelican....625 birds
Great Blue Heron........6 birds
Great Egret..................63 birds
Osprey..........................1 bird
Sharp-shinned Hawk..2 birds
Red-tailed Hawk..........4 birds
Peregrine Falcon.........1 ad.
Am. Coot.......................210 birds-early for these numbers
Sandhill Cranes............15 birds
Am. Avocet....................1 ad.
Spotted Sandpiper......4 birds
Sanderling....................37 birds
Western Sandpiper.......8 birds
Least Sandpiper............2 birds
Pectoral Sandpiper.......5 birds
Bonaparte's Gull............1 bird
Franklins Gull..............1 bird- very uncommon on this lake.
Ring-billed Gull ..............115 birds
California Gull..................25 birds
Herring Gull......................6 birds
Common Tern..................7 birds
Say's Phoebe..................1 bird
Black-billed Magpie.........5 birds
Common Raven...............3 birds
Barn Swallow....................65 birds
Northern-rough winged Swallow....1 bird- late for this species in this area.
Orange-crowned Warbler....1 bird on an island.
Yellow-rumped Warbler........6 birds on an island.
Am. Pipit.................................9 birds on Islands
White crowned Sparrow........6 birds on islands

Well that is it for this trip. A huge thank-you to the folks that made this trip possiable. Thank-yoy to the nine WOS members and a big thank-you to Levi Meesburg for the outstanding piloting job he does with the boat.






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Mike & MerryLynn Denny
Birding the beautiful Walla Walla Valley

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