Subject: [Tweeters] Black-throated Sparrows in Franklin, BBPL in Desert Aire
Date: May 20 19:59:04 2015
From: Michael Hobbs - birdmarymoor at frontier.com


We did some hiking in the Juniper Dunes Wilderness SE of Eltopia in Franklin
County yesterday. The Jerusalem Crickets were incredibly abundant.
Swainson?s Hawks were numerous overhead (somewhere between 12-20). Lark
Sparrows were also very common.

My big excitement came deep in the Dunes. At 46.404117, -118.854367 I found
at least 2 singing BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS. I may well have been hearing
them for a while before I figured out what I was hearing. Finally, I got
great looks.

This was about a 2 mile hike from where we started, which was the north
entrance at the end of Joy Rd. off E Blackman Ridge Rd. I don't know if it
would be closer from the gate from the adjacent ORV area to the southwest of
the Wilderness.

I know of one other sighting of Black-throated Sparrow from the Juniper
Dunes Wilderness, back on May 29, 2006. Given how little the area is
birded, it's possible they are annual there.


AND A VERY TARDY REPORT, sorry: On Saturday (May 16) while kayaking Priest
Rapids Lake from Desert Aire, Grant County, I found a breeding plumage
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER on a sandbar maybe a generous half-mile north of the
boat launch.

== Michael Hobbs
== www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== BirdMarymoor at frontier.com