In this regard I should report on our SAS "Winter" bird tour of Eastern
Washington this past weekend. Might better have been termed the "Early
"Spring" tour. We started off with 6 singing male Sage Sparrows at two
spots in Schnebly Coulee Feb. 17 and a fine pair of Mountain Bluebirds
nearby. Feb. 18 we had two Say's Phoebes and another Mountain Bluebird
north of Chelan Falls on the McNeil Canyon road, then a Violet-green
Swallow or two over a patch of open water on the otherwise frozen
Okanogan River near Malott with four Western Bluebirds at the same spot.
The thousands of Snow Buntings present as late as Feb. 10 on the
Waterville Plateau were 99.9% gone. We had one or two fly over in two
days of road running up there. No Bohemian Waxwings or redpolls to be
found though one Snowy Owl was still present east of Moses Lake on L NE.
Also had 3 Long-eared Owls near Lamoine, two-three Great Horned Owls at
two spots, a very cooperative Northern Saw-whet Owl near Sun Mountain
Lodge, and a highly vocal & territorial male N. Pygmy Owl above Manson on
Lake Chelan (near the White-headed Woodpecker). We tallied 46 Bald
Eagles and 17 Golden Eagles, 60 Red-tailed Hawks, 21 Rough-legged Hawks,
16 Kestrels, 1 Merlin, 1 Sharpie, 1 Coopers, 3 N. Harriers, 8 N. Shrikes
also for quite a bunch of raptors (but no Gyrs or Prairie Falcons...
first time we've ever missed the latter, maybe they're already on their
nests). 100+ Hepburn's Gray-crowned Rosy Finches and 14 Chukars along
the basalt wall on Lake Lenore's east shore. A single female
Red-breasted Merganser on Lake Chelan. Five American Tree Sparrows but
no Sharpt-tailed Grouse at the W. Foster Creek feeding station south of
Bridgeport. All three Carpodacus finches together in Cle Elum along with
large flocks of Evening Grosbeaks. Two coyotes. Them's the highlights.

Gene Hunn.

On Mon, 19 Feb 1996, Brenda Senturia wrote:

> Spring is definitely here! I saw 9 Western Bluebirds on Sunday near
> Portland.
> They should be in Washington soon, if they aren't here already.
> Brenda Senturia
> senturia at scn.org
>
>