The ABC East Side passerine vagrant and Shorebird trip on the weekend of Sept 7-8, 2013 was a great weekend for shorebirds and a bit slow for migrating passerines. We had 11 participants in 4 cars and so made great time on the road, and the overall weekend gad good weather and lots of time birding without excessive driving.
Our first stop was at Gingko State Park at Vantage. The sprinklers were on and at the top we had few birds. The highlight of the stop for many was a herd of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep at very close range with nursing babies and about 25 total sheep. The bird of the stop for me was a pair of canyon wrens calling incessantly and showing off at eye level close views down by the river. It was the first time for me to hear their call note well, not just their well-known song. I’ll attach e-bird lists for each stop for anyone interested in more details. See here
Next stop was Getty Cove, south of the State Park, where we found modest numbers of the expected warblers (YR, Yellow, Wilson’s) as well as Warbling Vireo. See list here. Overall not as birdy as last September, but a nice place to bird in the fall migration. On the drive back to Wanapum State Park we saw a Red-necked Grebe close in on the river just fading from its red-necked alternate plumage. At the park after a slow start we finally found a nice flock of mixed migrants, including 3 vireos Warbling, Red-eyed and Cassin’s, as well as a Townsend’s and Orange-crowned warblers among the YR flock. Also had two Western Tanagers and lots of American Robins. List here.
A quick stop on the frontage road toward Moses Lake yielded great close looks at a Swainson’s hawk on a utility pole before we got to the Winchester Rest Stop Sewage Ponds where we had a remarkable 10 species of shorebirds including American avocet, Pectoral sandpiper and Least sandpiper. See list
We headed to the Potholes Rookery site where the reported Snowy Egret was not obliging but lots of American white pelicans and had a nice fly-by of an immature Black-crowned night heron. On the way out we had some flocks of sparrows including Vesper and Lark. List here and here.
After a night at The Inn at Moses Lake and a dinner on the lake at Michaels (recommended) we spent Sunday early looking for the Eastern wood-pewee at the horse-chestnut orchard above Lind Cooley without success, though some saw a Prairie falcon there. list From there we went to Perch Point on the Potholes Reservoir. It was the highlight of the day of shore-birding with large numbers of Pectoral sandpipers, peeps, about 100 Great egrets, several gull species including some Bonaparte’s gulls with some juvenile (not formative which we usually see on first winter birds) aspect remaining. list
The rest of the day was spent circling the reservoir with several stops. Lind Cooley was not as productive as last year except at the parking lot on top where we picked up Baird’s sandpiper along with a variety of other shorebirds list. On the way back we decided to try again at the Potholes Rookery for the Snowy egret without success, but a small water hold off Dodson Rd we saw a Stilt sandpiper to round out a nice weekend of shorebirding. list
All photos thanks to Pat Damron.
Here is the list for the trip:
| Summary | |||||||||
| Sep 7 | Sep 8 | Sep 9 | Sep 10 | Sep 11 | Sep 12 | Sep 13 | |||
| Number of Species | 64 | 60 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Number of Individuals | 712 | 2,017 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Number of Checklists | 8 | 10 | |||||||
| Species Name | Sep 7 | Sep 8 | Sep 9 | Sep 10 | Sep 11 | Sep 12 | Sep 13 | ||
| Canada Goose | 45 (2) |
80 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Mallard | 2 (1) |
14 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Blue-winged Teal | 6 (2) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Cinnamon Teal | 1 (1) |
4 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Northern Shoveler | — | 8 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| teal sp. | — | 20 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| California Quail | 2 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Common Loon | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Pied-billed Grebe | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Red-necked Grebe | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Western Grebe | — | 20 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Clark’s Grebe | — | 3 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Western/Clark’s Grebe | — | 50 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Double-crested Cormorant | 80 (1) |
75 (4) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| American White Pelican | 150 (1) |
42 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Great Blue Heron | — | 4 (4) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Great Egret | 45 (1) |
98 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Black-crowned Night-Heron | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Osprey | 2 (2) |
1 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Northern Harrier | — | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Cooper’s Hawk | 2 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Sharp-shinned/Cooper’s Hawk | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Swainson’s Hawk | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 (1) |
1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| American Coot | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| American Avocet | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Killdeer | 2 (3) |
11 (4) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Spotted Sandpiper | — | 2 (2) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Greater Yellowlegs | 2 (2) |
5 (4) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 2 (2) |
3 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Stilt Sandpiper | — | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Sanderling | — | 2 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Baird’s Sandpiper | — | 5 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Least Sandpiper | 3 (1) |
30 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Pectoral Sandpiper | 2 (2) |
7 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Semipalmated Sandpiper | 1 (1) |
1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Western Sandpiper | 15 (1) |
80 (4) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Long-billed Dowitcher | 1 (1) |
3 (2) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Red-necked Phalarope | 1 (1) |
2 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Bonaparte’s Gull | — | 11 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Ring-billed Gull | 50 (2) |
200 (4) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| California Gull | 2 (2) |
8 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| gull sp. | — | 300 (2) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Rock Pigeon | 3 (1) |
6 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Eurasian Collared-Dove | — | 4 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Mourning Dove | 4 (3) |
6 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Vaux’s Swift | 3 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Downy Woodpecker | — | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Northern Flicker | 2 (2) |
1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| American Kestrel | 1 (2) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Peregrine Falcon | — | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Prairie Falcon | — | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Say’s Phoebe | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Cassin’s Vireo | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Warbling Vireo | 3 (3) |
1 (2) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Red-eyed Vireo | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Black-billed Magpie | 2 (1) |
2 (2) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| American Crow | 4 (2) |
4 (2) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Common Raven | 4 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Tree Swallow | — | 40 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Bank Swallow | 4 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Barn Swallow | 40 (3) |
20 (2) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Rock Wren | 3 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Canyon Wren | 2 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Marsh Wren | — | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Bewick’s Wren | — | 2 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| American Robin | 28 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| European Starling | 6 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Orange-crowned Warbler | 1 (1) |
1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Yellow Warbler | 4 (1) |
1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 8 (2) |
40 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Townsend’s Warbler | 1 (1) |
1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Wilson’s Warbler | 1 (1) |
3 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Vesper Sparrow | 3 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Lark Sparrow | 2 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Savannah Sparrow | — | 2 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Song Sparrow | 1 (1) |
1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| White-crowned Sparrow | 7 (3) |
6 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Dark-eyed Junco | 4 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Western Tanager | 2 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| Red-winged Blackbird | — | 30 (2) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Western Meadowlark | 8 (2) |
4 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Yellow-headed Blackbird | — | 10 (2) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| Brewer’s Blackbird | 8 (2) |
30 (2) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| House Finch | 14 (2) |
16 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| American Goldfinch | 12 (2) |
6 (3) |
— | — | — | — | — | ||
| House Sparrow | 1 (1) |
— | — | — | — | — | — | ||
Thanks to Ken Brown for arranging another great trip, to all participants for an excellent time birding together. Thanks to the lightening at the Seahawks game for me finding time to get this report on the ABC site. Ed Pullen