Ken Brown with minimal assistance from Ed Pullen led an ABC trip Saturday Sept. 8-10, 2012. We were exploring well known east central WA migrant and shorebird sites, most of us for the first time in fall. We started at Getty Cove, the state park near Wanapum State Park off the Columbia River at Vangage. This was a very pleasant start as we followed mixed flocks of warblers, kinglets, nuthatches and sparrows around the park. Sorting through the flocks of Yellow-rumped warblers yielded 12 RB nuthatches, 2 Red-eyed vireos, 4 warbling vireos, 1 Nashville warbler, 2 Wilson’s warblers, and an estimate 40 Yellow-rumped warblers along with two first-year/female aspect Bullock’s orioles and both Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned hawks as highlights. Crossing the road to Wanapum was less productive of passerines, but we added 3 Western Grebes, an American Kestrel (first of dozens on the wires as we travelled), and a nice spot for lunch.
We spent most of the rest of the afternoon shorebirding, and found an nice variety, starting at Potholes near the Egret Rookery where nearly the first shorebird we found was a close up, out-in-the-open Solitary Sandpiper, with both Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs nearby. Large flocks of Am. White Pelicans and searching for more shorebirds nearly led us to overlook a sub-adult Franklin’s gull, which Pat and Laurel finally convinced Ken and I to help identify. It was felt to be a second year bird and gave us nice in-flight views.
From there we visited Perch Point where we added Spotted Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Wilson’ Snipe, Baird’s Sandpiper and Pectroral Sandpipers to our shorebird list along with good numbers of Western, 4 Greater and 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, 5 W. Snipemixed among an estimated 80 Westerns. Next we visited Lind Cooley, where unlike reports earlier in the week we found perfect water levels, if not easy to get to viewing. At the back end of the water Ken and I tromped through the bushes to find excellent views of 3 Stilt Sandpipers mixed among lots of other shorebirds. Then back at the mouth of the waterway after walking down from the large parking lot we had great light and nice looks at 8 Baird’s sandpipers, 12 Pectoral Sandpipiers, 2 Least Sandpipers, 2 Semipalmated Plovers, and about an estimated 100+ Western sandpipers. Rolan and John lagged behind and got a look at two Buff Breasted sandpipers that the rest of us could not relocate after they told us about them a bit later.
From here off to Othello for a good nights sleep and getting ready for Bassett Park the next day. On the way to Bassett park we stopped at the Hatton Rest Stop (more sewer ponds) getting another great look at Solitary Sandpiper in the wide open quite close in along with two Red-necked Phalaropes and assorted other shorebirds, as Barn and Bank swallows sallied about.
We spent a couple of hours after this at Bassett Park, finding it fairly quiet but beautifully kept up by a town with obviously limited resources. We managed to see 2 Dusky and 1 Willow flycatcher and surprisingly few warblers, only 2 Wilson’s, 6 Yellow-rumped and 1 Orange-crowned counted. We had better luck at Lyon’s Ferry, where we spent much of the day and had lunch in chairs under some trees watching many YR warblers playing in the sprinkler of a hose. A modest variety of warblers including Nashville, Yellow, Common Yellow-throat, Wilson’s and Townsend’s joined the party there, and we generally enjoyed that it was warm but not hot and that the wind seemed more modest there. Back to Basset Park for evening birding after dinner at the tavern and a disappointing last 30 seconds of the Seahawks game, added a family of 4 Barn Owls screeching and flying about. The soft grass made camping enjoyable.
The next morning little new had shown up, and we met Vera, Jack and Pat who showed us photos of what we thought might be a Sharp-tailed sandpiper they found at the Para ponds outside Othello where they had returned to a hotel for the night. We quickly analyzed Pat’s photos, and raced for the ponds, to find neither Pectoral nor Sharp-shinned but added Long-billed Dowicher and Semi-palmated Plover to the trip shorebird list. On further review on better looks with outside help the potential STSP was determined to be a bright capped Least Sandpiper. The rest of the day was dominated by high winds, leading us to abort a second try at Getty Cove and return home to beat the traffic.
Overall a nice introduction for many of us to eastern WA fall migration and a very enjoyable 3-day weekend. Hope to add photos and a trip list soon. 15 shorebirds seen by most, Vera and Pat had Sharp-tailed, Rolan and John Buff-breasted for a group total of 17 shorebird species.
Birding Ken, Ed, David, Rolan, John, Laurel, Vera and Pat. Jack driving.