Owl chicks and a new bird for Bennington Lake

We found great horned owl chicks in two locations this morning on our walk.  It's always exciting to know the owls have brought off young.

We also saw a pair of Eurasian collared doves in the cottonwoods along the south side of the lake.  They are common in the Walla Walla area now, but this is the first time we have seen them at the lake.  The lake was very high today and it was full of waterfowl - mallards, shovelers, wigeons, green-winged teals, ring-necked ducks, common goldeneyes, buffleheads and coots. Above them were tons of swallows -  tree, cliff and violet green mostly, with a couple northern-rough winged. Three osprey soared high above the lake but we only saw one northern harrier today.  Three Lincoln's sparrows were a pleasant surprise, and yellow-rumped warblers in bright breeding plumage were singing in the trees.  The water was gushing over "Cayuse Falls" again, so three of us walked up to the diversion dam at Rooks Park to avoid getting our feet and legs wet.  We were treated with an American dipper and a pair of common mergansers at the dam.  The water is so high at the lake that there is no mud for shorebirds.  Last week we saw 29 greater yellowlegs on a small strip of mud, but today the only shorebirds were a pair of killdeer fussing at us from the rocks on the dam.  Every week should bring more birds back.  I can hardly wait for the warblers and other summer passerines to return!  Ginger