Ken (see The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #2) and I headed out early today for the Moses Lake area to check out the areas were are leading field trips to on Friday and Sunday. Tomorrow we are going to the Gloyd’s Seep area in addition to two small parks near Moses Lake, Blue Heron Park and Neppel Landing. We had not birded two of these areas before, so in order not to get lost, and to feel ready we got here today and checked them out.

We first went to Blue Heron Park getting there about 9:15 AM. It was very windy near the lake, and we didn’t see much of interest on the water, a few Western Grebes, very few ducks, etc. It was better behind the bluff in the trees, and we added FOY Black-headed Grosbeak and a few other species.
A quick stop at Neppel Landing gave looks at the water, but few birds.

Gloyd’s Seep is a much larger area that we had not visited before. It is a large patch of sage with a few trees and a big wetlands where a creek spreads out in a low area to form a big wetlands. We were hoping for lots of shorebirds and waterfowl. We saw small numbers of several ducks, including FOY Blue-winged Teal, but only 3 Long-billed Dowichers and Killdeer for shorebirds. Very few passerines were found.

We had time after this to scout the area of Sunday’s trip to the Potholes Reserve near the heron rookery. We felt much better about this area. We saw more FOY species, including Lark Sparrow, Forester’s Tern, and got nice looks at Clark’s Grebe and Spotted Sandpiper.

Not to sleep fast and be ready to meet our group at 5:45 AM tomorrow.

Wish us luck, good birding and a good day! The same to all of you.