Subject: snow birding north-central Washington (long)
Date: Jan 25 11:35:24 1996
From: PAGODROMA at aol.com - PAGODROMA at aol.com


Trip Report for mid-winter birding expedition in northern Douglas and
Okanogan Counties, Washington, 19 thru 23 January 1996.
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Itinerary:
19Jan96 -- Waterville Plateau; Waterville-Mansfield-Saint Andrews.
20Jan96 -- Foster Creek WMA-Leahy-Mansfield-Bridgeport (am); Winthrop (late
pm).
21Jan96 -- Winthrop; Pearrygin State Park, Chewack Valley.
22Jan96 -- Okanogan Highlands; Havillah-Molson-Chesaw.
23Jan96 -- Okanogan highlands: Chesaw-Wauconda-Bonaparte Lake-Moses Meadow.

Weather:
19Jan96 -- cloudy, wind calm, ~3" new snow on 6-16" base, air 20:-25:F; roads
fine.
20Jan96 -- snow, additonal 2-3", wind calm, except N 20-30mph, blowing snow
and
local white-out conditions on Waterville Plateau, air 15:-25:F,
roads marginal.
21Jan96 -- cloudy, snow showers, new snow 1" on 18-24" base, air 11:-22:F;
roads fine.
22Jan96 -- mostly clear and sunny, wind calm to N 5mph, light snow after
1500hrs,
snow cover 12-16", air temp -7:F to 18:F (-15:F at Molson --
Brrrr!); roads fine.
23Jan96 -- cloudy, snow showers, new snow 2-4" overnight on 12-24" base, air
15:-26:F; roads fine but many forest & logging roads untracked
or recently plowed with 4-6" powder in some areas (Wauconda &
Moses Meadows) but
still drivable and OK for me.
=================================
Highlights:

Waterville Plateau (Douglas Co.) --

<GYRFALCON> -- 19Jan96 -- gray morph immature, 7 mi E of Mansfield, 0.6 mi S.
on Heritage Road, west side on one of the hummocky rocks out in the field.
Virtual "white-out" out across there except for the rock and the gyrfalcon
-- a vision of the Arctic tundra for sure! Beautiful bird! All those
isolated rock hummocks should be ideal for snowy owls.

<SNOW BUNTING> -- 19Jan96 -- everywhere! 4000+ scattered all over the
Waterville Plateau. Center of concentration (3500) within a 5 mile radius of
Mansfield. Driving rt.172, at it's best when just plowed and sanded, you
would have to be blind to not find them. Cleared and sanded main roads are
better than the snow covered side roads although there were birds in fields
along those as well. Largest flock was 1800-2000 carpeting rt.172, 5 miles W
of Mansfield. Other large flocks contained 700, 600, 370, & 340. Often
mixed with the more numerous horned lark flocks, the large flock of 1800-2000
was 100% snow buntings. 20Jan96 -- snow and blowing snow and I could find
only 940 (2 flocks) snow buntings mixed with horned larks trying to cling to
the highway along rt.172, both just east of Mansfield. I don't recommend
birding the Plateau in these conditions. No longspurs, and I spent a great
deal of time carefully sorting through the lark & bunting flocks "expecting"
to find one. Keep searching. There must be one or two in there somewhere.

<SHARP-TAILED GROUSE> -- 20Jan96 -- Foster Creek WMA spent the morning in
steady light snow following tracks to birds buried in the snow and feeding
low on buds in the trees. Following grouse tracks in fresh snow is a good
way to find these guys...and good exercise! Phew! Risking driving some
marginal offroads E & SE of Leahy in hopes of sage grouse were unfruitful,
but "interesting".......

<VIRGINIA RAIL> -- 20Jan96 -- Foster Creek WMA, pair of birds running around
in a wet seep and snow in cattail marsh.

<MARSH WREN> -- 19Jan96 -- tiny frozen cattail marsh at north end of Jameson
Lake. This bird seemed perhaps a bit out of place in this frigid wintery
landscape.
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Winthrop, Pearrygin State Park, Chewack Valley, (Okanogan Co.) --

<NORTHERN GOSHAWK> -- 21Jan96 -- beautiful adult male in perfect light
perched atop a Douglas Fir, Chewack Valley, West Chewack Road. NOT the hoped
for northern hawk owl, but none-the-less, pleasing aesthetically, "the bird
of the day".

<BOHEMIAN WAXWING> -- 21Jan96 -- single flock of 250 mixed with 45 evening
grosbeaks at Pearrygin State Park, campground (accessible only by foot, ski,
snow moble), feeding in ____?____ (((help please! -- trees still retaining
their dried yellowish willow-like lancelate leaves; fruits in hanging bracts
of roundish fleshy opaque white to grayish berries -- there were a lot of
these trees there but the berries on most were dried, shriveled and blackish
and of no interest to the birds))).

<GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH> -- 21Jan96 -- single flock of 450 in field /
paddock along East Chewack Road, ~3 miles N. of Winthrop (east side of road).

<COMMON REDPOLL> -- 21Jan96 -- single flock of 280 in Chewack Valley, flighty
and high in the trees and didn't stay put long enough for careful sorting and
study for hoary.
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Okanogan Highlands, Havillah - Molson - Chesaw - Wauconda - Bonaparte Lake -
Aeneas Valley - Moses Meadow (Okanogan Co.) --

<GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH> -- 22Jan96 -- 1.5 mi. N. Havillah; flock of 105
flushed up from a cattle feeder and alighted on and ornamented the power
lines overhead in bright sun. Aesthetically, best bird of the day -- and
"saved the day" from being a bird bust. Another flock of ~70 whizzed over
the barren snow covered hills of the sharp-tailed grouse management area
along Mary Ann Creek and Molson Summit Road, 2 miles west of Chesaw.

<SNOW BUNTING> -- 23Jan96 -- single flock of 120 flitting over snow covered
fields, ~3 mi. SSE of Chesaw.

<WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL> -- 23Jan96 -- single token male feeding in spruce
along Beaver Creek, Oroville-Toroda Creek Road, SE of Chesaw.

<MOUNTAIN LION (COUGAR)> -- 22Jan96 -- single animal stalking deer in the
snow covered meadows near the snow park, along USFS rt.3230, 1.5 mi S of
Havillah.

<notes>: In general, the entire "Highlands" area was really deadly quiet
apart from the ubiquitous mountain chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, and
red crossbills at every stop. Conspicuous in their absence were rough-legged
hawk and northern shrike. I sensed that this might be a bad sign, that plus
the heavily snow and hoar frost laden trees. Sensationally beautiful, yes,
especially around Molson and Chesaw, but not a good sign for stumbling upon
northern hawk and great gray owls. In fact, a total bust for owls! Contrast
that to a late January 1994 trip, saw-whet owls were calling in many places,
a boreal was lured to tape playback, and a great gray was seen and heard near
Wauconda. That 1994 trip was clear, calm, temperature ~0:F, and full moon.
It was the utter dead of winter at these same sites this time with not so
much as a peep from owls or anything else. Well...you know what they say
about negative data. It's just as important as positive; just not as much
fun to collect. :)

Moses Meadow, on the Colville Indian Reservation, was quiet & birdless apart
from 3 noisy belted kingfishers, seemingly out of sorts up there right now,
and howling coyotes during late afternoon and after dark. Driving some of
those snow covered logging roads across the meadow was a bit of an adrenaline
rush, not knowing just when or if I would be able to turn around. Then, of
all things, having not seen a living soul up there at all, I met a convoy of
3 outbound trucks (junkers) on one of them just after dark........
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Summary: 54 species (upland areas only); Total individuals = 10,344

**Top Ten List** # %
snow bunting ................. 4,395 (42.5%)
horned lark..................... 3,090 (29.9%)
gray-crowned rosy finch... 625 ( 6.0%)
common redpoll............... 280 ( 2.7%)
Bohemian waxwing........... 250 ( 2.4%)
red crossbill...................... 220 ( 2.1%)
mountain chickadee.......... 163 ( 1.6%)
red-breasted nuthatch....... 103 ( 1.0%)
unid. finches/waxwings?... 100 ( 1.0%)
evening grosbeak............. 95 ( 0.9%)
------------------------
TOP TEN TOTAL >>> 9,321 (90.1%)

[This will be an experimental post. When sent, it was all nice and neat,
indentations, columns, etc. If everything is all messed up at the other end,
then I don't understand what's going on or why it reformats itself in
electronic transit. If nothing else, I've got a file for the birding trip].


Richard Rowlett <pagodroma at aol.com>
Bellevue, WA, USA