[Tweeters] Para Ponds Othello

[Hans-Joachim Feddern via Tweeters]

After the Snow Goose spectacle we stopped at Potholes State Park. There
always is a nice variety of birds there, but nothing unusual this time.

>From there we headed for the Para Ponds in Othello. On the water and on the

meadows around the ponds were several thousand Cackling Geese and also some
Canada Geese and a single Greater White-fronted Goose. There was a good
variety of duck species, but no Redheads and hundreds of American Coots.
Also no Black-necked Stilts had come in yet.
Next we stopped at the County Line Ponds on SR 26. I have never seen the
main pond on the southside so quiet! There were barely a dozen ducks there
and even they were hard to find. The pond on the northside had a pair of
Bufflehead and a pair of Green-winged Teal, but also a pair of  Redhead, 7
Black-necked Stilts and a single American Avocet. The last two
First-of-Year birds for me.

>From there we took B SE road south towards Lower Crab Creek. The hole in

the road has been fixed and there are two one lane bridges over the two
branches of the creek. A lone male Northern Harrier was patrolling low over
the sage brush,  He had to climb to let a circling Red-tailed Hawk  know
that he was not invited. While I was watching them I noticed a small group
of Canada Geese landing in a field quite distant. But wait, two large birds
kept on flying towards me! They had a different wing beat, flapping and
gliding almost like a butterfly! A pair of Sandhill Cranes! My lucky day.
We did hear some other cranes trumpeting, but could not locate them.

I hope that I have not bored you too much!

Good Birding!

Hans

-- 
*Hans Feddern*
Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA
thefedderns at gmail.com
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