Today Ken and I met t 6 AM and headed south with hopes of finding the White-tailed Kite found yesterday at the South Lewis County Airport, and of seeing the lingering winter specialties of the SW corner. We got to the airport just at dawn, and fog was moderately thick.  We drove all around the area without luck but near the end of the loop I spotted the kite on a tree behind a house.  It was really hard to see in the fog, and photos were borderline useless.   The fog started to clear and we discovered access to see the kite more closely by parking at the airport office and walking across the runways to get a non-backlit and much closer view.  Photos were much better and this was a great first WA bird for me.

 

From there we headed south and first birded the Vancouver Lowlands, accessed from Exit 1 D and followed to the end where the Snowy Egret has been hanging out all winter.  We had great looks at manbe 750 SACR, thousands of Cackling Geese, and unexpectedly had a Yellow-headed Blackbird along with BRCO, GREG, SNEG, three species of swallows and lots of sparrows, ducks and GRYE.

Next was Ridgefield S Loop where we got Tundra Swans for Ken, but missed RSHA and WBNU the real targets of the area.  Last we birded the Vancouver Bottoms area where we could not locate either phoebe, BLPH or SAPH that were there a week earlier but again saw many SACR, waterfowl, and more sunshine before light rain started near the end.  On the drive home I added my FOY TUVU soaring beside the highway.

We ended the day with dinner at El Borrachos and ABC at UPS with a talk on New Zealand Kiwis and conservation issues.

A great day, and great to have Ken help distract me on my first day after Jean returned to Costa Rica and I would have been home alone.