Birdwatching! It gets me outside and it's social. There are a lot of us here. Often I meet up with fellow birders at McNary National Wildlife Refuge in Burbank or Bateman Island. For me it's more about the walk and the joy of getting outside to see nature. Surprisingly there are a lot of birds that only come here in winter. Rough-legged Hawks, Ferruginous Hawks, and Snowy Owls are out on the hills and empty farm lands. Merlin, Peregrine Falcons and Bald Eagles are found in the parks along the rivers. Waterfowl, gulls and grebes confuse me near the shorelines. A dozen different ducks, several different geese and a couple of swan species like to float around the Tri-Cities in winter. Songbirds, wrens, towhees and thrushes provide a winter challenge at places like Richland's W. E. Johnson Park, Pasco's Osprey Pointe, Kennewick's Two Rivers Park and frequently the backyard!

If the weather is nice I'll go walking, if the weather is not so nice I'll drive my car and stop at good birding spots. Free local bird route maps can be found on the Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society webpage. It might sound dorky but with a field guide and binoculars I rarely get the winter blues.

-- Kathy Criddle, Richland