Waterfowl, Gulls and Eagles Field Trip

Thirteen of us joined Mike and MerryLynn for a great day of birding on the west side of the county on January 8.  It was cold and sunny, but there was a stiff wind along the Columbia and Snake Rivers.  Highlights were a FERRUGINOUS HAWK on Byrnes Road, a flock of SNOW GEESE flying high above McNary NWR, a close-up fly by of a TUNDRA SWAN at McNary NWR Headquarters, several BALD EAGLES sitting on the ice along the Columbia River and a bright white ball in the sky at Ice Harbor Dam that we learned later (after Chris Howard did some research on the internet) was VENUS.  We even got to do a little "four wheeling" in the mud at the Wallula Grain Terminal! We saw a total of 24 species of waterfowl and five species of gulls.  Our total species count for the day was 61.  Ginger