Hi all,
Dave Hayden, Gary Wiles and I braved the weather and the landscape of eastern Lewis County. Over the course of the day it slushed, sleeted, rained, and poured but for most of the day it was actually sunny. 

After cancelling last weekend due to the snowmageddon we were able to get out to Riffe Lake and Mayfield Lake.
The east end of Riffe Lake started off good with a Northern Shrike but for the next hour or so not much stirred in the snow covered flats. We were able to scope out some Common Mergansers, a Common Loon, and both Horned Grebe and Western Grebe. 
Then things changed we started walking back to the car via a different route when I noticed  a small bird sitting on top of a bare aspen sapling. After a quick pursuit the bird turned into a Say's Phoebe. This little beauty put on quite a show for us. My first sign that spring is truely around the corner. Two pipits, two meadowlarks, and two Lincoln's Sparrows were also good birds in the flats.
After trudging through the snow we headed west to Mayfield Lake. En route the weather changed and decided to slush from the sky. Lucky for us when we got to the Ike Kinswa State Park it was only sprinkling. This allowed us to scope out 6 Ruddy Ducks which are a difficult bird in the county.
 The real suprise was when I noticed a loon near the swimming area. Randy immediately got on thr bird and we both agreed it was not a Common Loon. After some more discussion and the help of a field we were able to conclusively identify the bird as a Red Throated Loon. Digiscope photos of the bird were taken for more proof of identification. This is only the second county record of this species. Which oddly enough also occured in February.
I hope all of you who wish to see the Loon are able to do so.
Dalton Spencer Centralia, Washington 


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