Hello all, Mike and I went out to Lion's Park behind K-mart this evening
- a great spot to watch for Common Nighthawks which are now hard to find
in Walla Walla - used to be common. We sit on the bench overlooking Mill
Creek and watch the evening movement of birds - the light on all three
species of teal was fantastic tonight. After 40 minutes a COMMON
YELLOWTHROAT started calling right in front of us - we have never seen
or heard one here before. It eventually came up in the top of the
grasses and gave us nice looks. Common Yellowthroat is NOT a common bird
in Walla Walla county - just ask MaryFrancis! I have seen several
reports on ebird over the years and recently from Jasper, Biscuit Ridge
and other foothill locations - unless one is seen I would guess what
folks are hearing is Bewick's Wrens. Our wrens sound different and we
have had several westsiders say "yellowthroat" when they hear them. Mike
and Randy Hill did find our first ever breeding record at 2Rivers HMU in
May. But that is out along the river in a marsh - where we would expect
them. Loving our cooler weather! MerryLynn Our list of birds seen this
evening:

Lions Park WW, Walla Walla, Washington, US
Jun 10, 2016 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments: 62, partly cloudy. Sat on bench and watched for birds over Mill Creek. Kids scared lots of birds off walking across spillway.
40 species

Mallard 22 many ducklings
Blue-winged Teal 4
Cinnamon Teal 7
Green-winged Teal 1
Bufflehead 3 drakes
California Quail 1
American White Pelican 3
Great Blue Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Virginia Rail 2
Killdeer 4
Spotted Sandpiper 3
California Gull 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove 8
Mourning Dove 1
Common Nighthawk 1
Vaux's Swift 5
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northern Flicker 1
Western Wood-Pewee 1
Warbling Vireo 1
Black-billed Magpie 3
American Crow 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Violet-green Swallow 10
Bank Swallow 6
House Wren 1
American Robin 2
European Starling 3
Cedar Waxwing 9
Common Yellowthroat 1 a first for this location - and we check this often! Didn't hear any last week.
Yellow Warbler 1
Song Sparrow 4
Black-headed Grosbeak 1
Red-winged Blackbird 6
Western Meadowlark 1
Brewer's Blackbird 2
House Finch 10
Lesser Goldfinch 3
House Sparrow 2


--
Mike & MerryLynn Denny
Birding the Beautiful Walla Walla Valley
"If you haven't gone birding, you haven't lived"