Hello all,
A gorgeous day to be out birding! Ginger and I took full advantage and headed out to the river this morning. High water at the delta - just a few dowitchers, 1 Pectoral and 1 Western Sandpiper. Many waterfowl and gulls.

At Penninsula HMU we scoped the thousands of waterfowl but nothing unusual - a Common Loon in close was nice. After 30 minutes the 2 SABINE'S GULLS showed up and flew around feeding much like terns. We hoped for terns but none today.

Turning on Hanson Loop we saw hundreds of Greater White-fronted Geese taking off from the cornfield and still on the ground were 4 SNOW GEESE - our first of fall (reported yesterday). On Humorist rd there is a freshly burned field with many AMERICAN PIPITS, Savannah Sparrows, Meadowlarks and a few Yrumps.

At McNary NWR HQ we scoped the pond - and the prior reports of gulls were not wrong! There were 11 FRANKLIN'S GULLS, 16 Bonaparte's Gulls and 1 SABINE'S GULL. And a few Ring-billeds and Calif. of course.
Scoping the many Ring-necked and Ruddy Ducks, Scaup and Wigeon I came across 5 CACKLING GEESE - also our first of fall.
Walking the "birding spur" Ginger found a NASHVILLE WARBLER - gettting late. A WHITE-THROATED and 1 GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW were both singing. A Cooper's Hawk was also very noisy!

Hearing SANDHILL CRANES we ran out from under the trees and watched 3 huge flocks come right over the HQ - over 600 birds. Always fun to see and hear!

Back in Walla Walla Ginger checked her email and found a RED PHALAROPE had been seen at Bennington Lake so we headed right out and watched this amazing visitor. Ginger called friends with great cameras and they took lots of photos.
The last RED PHALAROPE in Walla Walla Co. was October 29 of last year - also at Bennington Lake. I believe this is the 6th record for the county but Mike may correct me on that!

Yesterday evening in our yard were 3 EVENING GROSBEAKS - haven't seen any here since June. They were also reported in Tricities today.

Good birding all, MerryLynn


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Mike & MerryLynn Denny
Birding the beautiful Walla Walla Valley

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