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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Hello Tweeters,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> Last week we spent 4 days in the areas around the Tricities, Walla Walla, and then along the Columbia River. Overall we had very nice weather. Wind on day one and rain in the morning of the day we drove home (day 5). The views out over the Columbia and Snake Rivers, and the light on the farmed land and patches of still native grassland and sagebrush is always beautiful. Once again, I thought we might have enough interesting pictures to make an album, so the Flickr link below with 43 photos is the result. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>On day one we drove to Richland, stopping along the way. The Yakima Valley Audubon appears to have freshly painted all their bird boxes, so the bright blue paint looks great with the Mountain Bluebirds setting up shop on Umptanum Road. We found Western Bluebirds on a nest box in the Lyle Balch Cemetery. A new place to bird for us was Snively Road, near Richland, we went hunting for a mockingbird, which eluded us. The compensation was having 100s of Sandhill Cranes fly over. We finally had time to hike out onto Bateman Island in Kennewick. We spent part of a beautiful sunny morning there and did find the Black-crowned Night-Herons we wanted. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>When we reached Klickitat County, driving on Hwy 14 from the east, we spent a while driving on Six Prong Road, a route introduced to us over a decade ago on a field trip with the late great Ken Knittle. There we had a wonderful visit with a Great Horned Owl. Later on, east of Lyle on Balch Road and Old Hwy 8, we encountered dozens of Lewis’s Woodpeckers. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>So, as usual for us, nothing unusual, but some good photo opportunities. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29258421@N07/albums/72177720297575067">https://www.flickr.com/photos/29258421@N07/albums/72177720297575067</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> Oh, and most of the photos are my husband Bill’s. I hope you enjoy them. Charlotte Byers, Edmonds<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>