David Griffin and I had a fun day of birding, mostly in the Lewis-Clark
Valley and beginning at Hell’s Gate State Park in Lewiston. An adult male
SURF SCOTER was in the center of the Snake River a couple of hundred yards
south of the campgrounds, most-easily viewed from the Washington side just
north of Asotin. Other migrants at Hell’s Gate included my (new) latest
VAUX’S SWIFT for Idaho flying with on the order of 1000 Violet-green
Swallows, a late CASPIAN TERN, Greater Yellowlegs, ~150 Yellow-rumped
Warblers (95% Audubon’s, 5% Myrtle), an Orange-crowned Warbler, Common
Yellowthroat, and Western Tanager. At Three-mile Rapids, south of Asotin,
we had a late female LAZULI BUNTING, a Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warbler, and a
continued stream of Violet-green Swallows on the Washington side of the
Snake River. At Mann Lake, we missed the White-fronted Geese, but had a
surprising count of 3 AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS with continued Pectoral
Sandpipers and a large-ish flock of Long-billed Dowitchers. Ending the day
in Latah County, a Pectoral Sandpiper was at a pond on Little Bear Ridge
Road north of Kendrick, and one of Terry Gray’s RED-NECKED GREBES at Spring
Valley Reservoir near Troy was a long-sought first for me in Latah County.

Good Birding,

Carl Lundblad
Moscow, Idaho