Tweets,
We decided to make a desperation run yesterday to Garfield Co to try for shorebirds on the lone "island" in the Snake R west of the Lower Granite Dam-;nope-;and to get the "easy" birds we've missed for so long in the Blue Mts. above Pomeroy, Vaux's Swift and Red Crossbill. Also nope! (Matt B, why is VASW a Code 1 when we can never see any???)

But this morning when we were at Central Ferry, we ran into a Code 4 bonanza on Lower Deadman Road just over the guardrail from the gravel pullout on the left. This is the "cove" where waterfowl often congregate. First off, there was a flock of about 10 Blue-winged Teals. Then I played for Common Yellowthroat, since several days ago a family of COYEs had been reported on eBird at "Central Ferry." A young male popped right up, first answering the tape, then showing himself several times. There may have been more than one yellowthroat in there, but there were lots of birds, including Bewick's Wren, House Wren, Song Sparrow. We heard an odd noise, which, after calculations, turned out to be an immature Virginia Rail. Two adult rails answered to playback, one in the nearby reeds and the other from reeds on the far side of the cove. Finally, a lone female Gadwall was spotted further out on the water first with bins, then in good scope views, with the white speculum and light-ish head well-seen. We've had some good luck at Central Ferry in the past, but 3 of these Code 4 birds were new to us, pushing us over 150, and achieved while standing in one spot!

We also had 2 Prairie Falcons on a light pole almost at the top of Mountain Road out of Pomeroy, yesterday afternoon, 8/25. One took off right away and the second before we before we could scope it, but they were much larger than kestrels and I could make out the faint helmet with bins. They were brown on top, but I couldn't catch the underwings in flight.

All in all, this was a fabulous less-than-24 hrs. in Garfield!
Penny Koyama, Bothell
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20200826/96c6fba7/attachment.html>