Subject: [Tweeters] Thanks to Jim Elder for Tricolored Blackbird tip
Date: Tue May 15 22:25:46 PDT 2018
From: Ed Newbold - ednewbold1 at yahoo.com

Hi all,
I would like to thank Jim Elder for his recent post, which I have excerpted below, about the colony of Tricolored Blackbirds across the road from the headquarters of the Columbia NWR.
Of course any birder loves nothing more than being 6 inches off the road on a narrow shoulder and having the tripod shake and vibrate from each passing semi, so be forewarned:  This is a very peaceful setting with ample parking.
We ventured several guesses, but Elder's "at least a hundred" seemed on the safe side.
Thanks all, Ed Newbold residential Beacon Hill, ednewbold1 at yahoo.com
PS 1  The migration at Butyl Creek has tapered off after some great days, but Am. Goldfinch arrived today in force after a long absence and it could have reminded a person of a Coldplay hit, what with the remaining Wilson's Warblers and a brilliantly colored Yellow Warbler.


PS 2.  Here's an the part of  Jim Elder's original post about the Blackbirds:


Excert from Jim Elder's post:

Yesterday (Friday, May 11), I had a day off work and ventured out to the Columbia Basin. Perhaps I missed the memo on this, but I was surprised to find what seems likely to be a large breeding colony of Tricolored Blackbirds on Morgan Lake Road about a half mile north of McManamon Road in Adams County. There were at least a hundred blackbirds visible there. However, it sounded like there were many blackbirds down in the cattails below the line of sight so I think there were many more. This patch of cattails is right next to the road allowing for excellent close views. This is directly across the road from the driveway into the Columbia NWR refuge headquarters. The driveway is a very wide area of gravel so there is plenty of room to park safely off the road and out of everyone's way.


I was surprised to find these birds so conspicuously because, as far as I can tell, there is only a single eBird report from this location (from last Wednesday). I was there for the better part of an hour and only spotted one Red-winged Blackbird among the Tricoloreds. There were also a couple Yellow-headed Blackbirds on the periphery and, at one point, at least 3 Brewer's Blackbirds. A birding couple from Sweden also showed up while I was there.
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