Jo Roberts & I left Seattle Friday morning & charged down I90, arriving at
Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Area, on S20 between Colville and Tiger, in
the early evening. Heard or seen were coyotes, PILEATED WOODPECKER,
FLICKER, BARRED OWL CASSIN'S FINCH, ROBIN, flocks of PINE GROSBEAKS,
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, YELLOW BELLIED SAPSUCKER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER,
MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, a flock of CEDAR WAXWING,
OSPREY, CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, a solitary RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, BC CHICKADEE,
and MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE. The next morning, at Sherry Creek, were BARN
SWALLOW, the only species of swallow seen the entire trip. Later, on the
way to Crawford State Park near the Canadian border, we saw WOOD DUCK (5),
PIED-BILLED GREBE, REDHEAD, BELTED KINGFISHER, MALLARD, GADWALL and RAVEN,
at the roadside ponds. We arrived at the top of Salmo Mountain in late
afternoon after a short hike into the adjacent Salmo-Priest Wilderness.
(The benchmark and local wisdom stated we were on Salmo Mountain but the
topomap, the DeLorme atlas and the Metsker map gave conflicting
information. I wished more than ever that I'd brought my GPS receiver and
a copy of the Colville NF map along.) Wherever it was we were, it was a
warm, cloudless evening with a nice easterly breeze. We observed the
spectacular, nearly half Moon and Jupiter and three of its moons with the
spotting scope, and checked for the green flash at sunset.

The sun came up like thunder over Idaho 'cross the way while we observed
RAVEN, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, GRAY JAY, STELLER'S JAY, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH,
DE JUNCO, ROBIN, TOWNSEND'S WARBLER, small flocks of very tame
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS, CHIPPING SPARROW, SAVANNAH SPARROW, and LINCOLN's
SPARROW on the way down the mountain. At noon, at Lost Lake after a
roller coaster ride along the power line, between Metaline and Ione , we
saw RED-TAILED HAWK, VARIED THRUSH, ROBIN and ca 10 FLICKER; otherwise it
was pretty quiet. Arriving in Tiger we turned west and passed Big Meadow
Lake (where the big thrill earlier this year was a cow moose and calf
during a WOS field trip) where we saw two fledgling OSPREY, PIED-BILL
GREBE, a GREAT BLUE HERON, MALLARD, and RUDDY DUCK fledglings. By late
afternoon we arrive at a BLM parking area south of Creston, near Wall Lake.
On the way in we id'd SHARP-TAILED GROUSE (at a spot where they had been
planted by the DFW), MOURNING DOVE (large numbers), RED-TAILED HAWK (5),
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (1), Kestrel (8), MEADOWLARK, KILLDEER, RUDDY DUCK,
GADWALL, GOLDENEYE, PIED-BILL GREBE, WILSON's PHALAROPE (10), AMERICAN
BITTERN and roadkilled LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE . Another peaceful, brilliant
sunset; later a coyote serenade with GREAT-HORNED OWL obbligato. In the
morning we walked toward Wall Lake, inspecting an abandoned farm, and saw
SONG SPARROW, GREAT HORNED OWL, NORTHERN HARRIER, HOUSE WREN, SHARP-SHINNED
HAWK, MEADOWLARK, MOURNING DOVE, GOLDFINCH, BREWER'S SPARROW, and
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. Driving in a large rectangle we arrived at Twin Lakes
at noon and observed SPOTTED SANDPIPER in basic plumage, LONG-BILLED
DOWITCHER (2), LESSER YELLOWLEGS (1), KILLDEER, OSPREY, YELLOW-RUMPED
WARBLER, WESTERN KINGBIRD, MEADOWLARK, and COWBIRD, STARLING. By 1400 we
were headed back to Seattle, arriving back in time for *the* thunderstorm
of the year.

All in all, no surprises. We were struck by the general lack of Canada
Geese, Mallards, swallows other than BASW and blackbirds.

Herb Curl

h.curl at hazmat.noaa.gov "You may be only young once but you can be
Hazmat/NOAA, 7600 Sand Pt. Wy., NE immature the rest of your life."
Seattle, WA 98115-0070
(206) 526-6272