Hi Andy:

Thanks for the info on the little gull. Hope you had a good weekend for
birding here on the We't side, now the snowy side. I really enjoyed your
presentation at the SAS Meeting and the chance to finally meet you face to
face. I sincerely apologize to you and everyone for so rudely interrupting
into your conversation with Patty. I was confused about who was talking to
who, then felt really bad about it afterwards.

As you probably saw posted recently, I did in fact go off to the Okanogan.
In fact I started putting it together on the way home, gased up, hit the
grocery store, and the bank, all before I got home from the SAS meeting, then
packed and loaded the car. The forecast for intermittant light snow of 1-3"
every day sounded too good to pass up and just what I was so impatiently
waiting for. I figured a little new snow every day would be great for
tracking birds and animals which it was. Wish we could have gone together.
With only a couple of hours of sleep, I was out the door and on the road at
0630 in the snow, but by the time I got to the Pass, it was light, and soon
stopped. Perfect. And there was no traffic what-so-ever to deal with. It
was a full 5-day trip, but to go that far, and try and cover as much as I
wanted to, it took every bit of it. Had I done one extra day which I thought
about, I would have spent a day in the Nighthawk area.

But, the trip was a bust for owls. Oh well. I still had a great time and
needed to romp around in some snow. My car, 1992 Subaru Legacy SW was just
outrageous up there. It would go anywhere without the slightest hesitation,
skid, or spin. This trip and some of the untraveled snow covered roads were
the real test. Still, I wouldn't take it in areas of really deep snow or
where it would drag center. Powder and compact snow were fine, and that
untracked road on the west edge of Moses Meadows where I met the three
outbound trucks did make me a bit nervous but got through there just fine.

Anyway, I'm eager to do it again sometime. I'm thinking that later would
increase the chances for calling owls, like maybe toward the end of February
or first week of March. It would be nice to get somewhere where there might
be calling boreal owls. Maybe up on Buckhorn Mountain if the roads are clear
enough.

I'm thinking about another trip to the Central Basin and Waterville Plateau
again, maybe mid-week or so, sometime when the snow stops -- the sooner after
the snow stops, the better I think. It's nice to explore those roads up
there when they are patchy snow packed and sanded rather than just bare.
Would you be interested for a day or two? Those big snow bunting flocks
around Mansfield were amazing!

Cheers! --Richard

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



The main problem which I had forgotten about was the damned windshield wipers
which were utterly useless. The blades freeze up instantly, and if it were
snowing, it would melt on the windshield, and I couldn't wipe the water off.
I don't know if this is a result of poor design or if in fact I need some
specialized wipers for snow conditions. The trip back to Seattle over the
Pass at midnight in the snow was horrible. The damned trucks just about did
me in and I had to stop at every single exit and scrub the windshield with
clean snow. If it hadn't been for the trucks, I would have been fine.

I was rather surprised not to see any redpolls in the Highlands. Chesaw and
Myer's Creek looked perfect. But there is a lot of habitat like that, so a
flock or two of roving redpolls could have been anywhere. What kind of trees
(alders) are those that are loaded with catkins all through that area?