{I participated in the 1992 and 1994 OK Challenge and thoroughly enjoyed
reflecting back on those grueling 24-hour criss-crosses of Okanogan
County. Dick Cannings in 1991 suggested the Yanks use the county
boundaries for their limits. In 1992, Dan Stephens and I won the
Flammulated Owl Award (thats the bigee) for seeing the most species-I
forget how many now...but I know we saw one we forgot to count-thanks
Scott Ray for picking out the Hermit Thrush from my account. In 1994,
Michael Carmody, Scott Ray & myself came in 3rd with a respectable 159,
including 10 species of owls including the Great fluffy one and
Short-ears. In that year, Dick Cannings got competitive again and yanked
the Flam Award north away from the Yanks with a 161 or 162 total. Thats a
lot of birds, but he has an all-time record of 165 or so! Try to beat
that, anybody out there, south or north of the border. One thing for sure
the event tests your knowledge of the breeding birds and their calls and
songs of the Okanogan region. Thats the real magic in OK country-the
summertime avifauna. Not vagrants or weirdo sightings. Just the regular
breeding species...but piles and piles of diversity. Some of you may know
Wayne Weber (a Canadian ornithologist and avid birder) whose hot on
Washington atlassing, has determined the Champneys Slough block north of
Palmer Lake has the highest number of breeding species recorded for any
block in Washington (seems to me its over 115 by now). It took a Canadian
to find us the richest(probably surpassing the NE corner of WA which is
alleged to be highest in diversity) area for breeding birds in the state!
My hats off to the Cannings also for their masterpiece: Birds of the
Okanagan Valley, in which they clearly state the "claim to fame" for the
area lies with its diversity of breeding birds, or something like that.
Take a look at the topography and resulting jumble of habitats in the
Okanogan Valley - from shrub-steppe in the valley bottoms to alpine at
summit level - and one begins to undertsand why.

Anyways, if you want to experience an incredible diversity of birdlife in
one short 24-hour period in a limited area (an Okanogan County Big Day
requires only about 600 miles of driving to hit big numbers which is
considerably less than the 750 to do Washington right), go for it and
contact Dick Cannings.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato, WA