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Saturday, September 6th, 2003

The WOS field trip officially began at Washtucna at 7:00 a.m. We were concentrating on passerine migrants which were not super obvious. Our itinerary from here was: Washtucna sewer pond for shorebirds, a kind of park area in Kahlotus which happened to be crawling with birds, Wind Dust Park, Hood Park in the heat of the day, Dodd-Iowa Beef Ponds which were loaded with waterfowl and some shorebirds and gulls, Walla Walla River mouth, and lastly the Yakima River Delta in Kennewick. Late in the day and the WOS field trip was over I checked out Whitcomb Island NWR where 7 Black-necked Stilts and Western Sandpipers were east of the entrance. Next I had 1 Great Egret at Crow Butte State Park. I also checked out Rock Creek, but it was super windy with the low coming in and could not locate any small birds which should have been there. The area was very dry which is normal for this time of year. Highlights for each area are as follows:

• Washtucna 1-Sharp-shinned Hawk 3-Barn Owls many Hammond's Flycatchers 1-Say's Phoebe 1-very yellow under-parts Warbling Vireo 1-Rock Wren 1-Bewick's Wren 1-Ruby-crowned Kinglet many Orange-crowned Warblers a group of female Western Tanagers 1-Spotted Towhee White-crowned Sparrows with a Junco with them 1-Bullock's Oriole female

• Washtucna sewer pond 1-Virginia Rail out on the mud for good views a handful of Western Sandpipers and Baird's Sandpipers 1-Least Sandpiper 1-Pectoral Sandpiper 1-Wilson's Snipe 2-Bank Swallows flying with Barn Swallows 1-Marsh Wren Vesper, Savannah, and White-crowned Sparrows around the edges of the ponds 1-Yellow-headed Blackbird

• Kahlotus 2 Great Horned Owls and 2 Loggerhead Shrikes seen before WOS field trip began 2-Hammond's Flycatchers 1-Cassin's Vireo both Kinglets 1-female American Redstart more female Western Tanagers Chipping and White-crowned Sparrows

• Wind Dust Park pretty dead here over-all 1-Osprey 1-Golden Eagle 1-Red-breasted Nuthatch a few more female Western Tanagers

• Hood Park 1-Osprey 1-Barn Owl flushed from Russian Olives 1-Great Horned Owl also flushed from the dense trees 1-female Downy Woodpecker 1-Bewick's Wren

• Dodd-Iowa Beef Ponds ducks included Cinnamon Teal, Pintail, Mallards, Canvasback heard 1 Virginia Rail 5 American Avocets 1-Greater Yellowlegs Western Sandpipers 1-Wilson's Snipe a small scattering of Red-necked Phalaropes with 2 Wilson's Phalaropes 2-Franklin's Gulls scattered Bonaparte's Gulls

• Walla Walla River mouth water level was high which doesn't help in creating habitat for shorebirds 1-Great Egret at McNary NWR as we drove by American White Pelicans Glaucous-winged Gulls by this time it was close to 100 degrees so we headed up to Kennewick

• Yakima River Delta American White Pelicans 2-Great Egrets heard another Virginia Rail 3-Greater Yellowlegs Western Sandpipers Red-necked Phalaropes Caspian Terns 8 small terns some of which we identified as to Forster's, 3 seemed darker backed which may have been Commons, but the heat waves and distance was too great for positive ID 1-Black-capped Chickadee singing in 97 degree heat

Any questions concerning the places or birds seen please ask, Ken Knittle