Trip Report: Okanogan Co., Washington, (28-29Feb - 02Mar96) ---

Highlights from the Okanogan Highlands [Moses Meadow - Aenas Valley (brief),
Cape Labelle Creek (2600-3600ft) - Wauconda - Toroda & Beaver Creeks - Chesaw
- Molson - Havillah]; Details by the end of the week when I can get it all
together.

Okanogan Highlands: 28-29 Feb, 01-02 March (car-camping Moses Meadows,
Wauconda, & Highland Sno-Park). Weather: CLEAR, calm, temp. -15F (Moses
Meadows - brrrr!!!); balmy +10F - 25-30F elsewhere; snow cover 12-24", bare
patches in sunny open areas; 'primitive' roads mostly snow packed, often
icy, becoming mud & boggy in a few exposed spots. Nighttime & pre-dawn owl
prowls, several hours each on foot at Moses Meadows, Wauconda, Beaver Creek,
Lost Lake, and Highland Sno-Park; moon 2/3 to 5/6 full (pm), none (pre-dawn).
Sleep? Little!! Food? Junk!!

Okanogan Highlands (2,500 - 4,400 feet) only: 50 species.
I keep a running tally sheet, thus totals shown are accurate & not estimates.
* -- first spring arrivals (i.e., non-existent in deep winter)
** -- highlights
*** -- major high points & story to be posted later
**** -- ditto above & trip bird (experience!)

mallard -- 17
common goldeneye -- 4
Cooper's hawk -- 1
red-tailed hawk -- 9
rough-legged hawk -- 1
ruffed grouse -- 2
sharp tailed grouse -- 1*** (STGR WMA, near Chesaw)
common snipe -- 4* (Beaver Creek, Oroville-Toroda Creek Rd)
great horned owl -- 17
northern pygmy owl -- 4
barred owl -- 6
great gray owl -- 1**** (Highland Sno-Park)
saw-whet owl -- 0** (ZERO! -- Why?! -- common late January 1994)
belted kingfisher -- 2
downy woodpecker -- 7
hairy woodpecker -- 8
white-headed woodpecker -- 2** (Cape Labelle Rd only)
northern (r-s) flicker -- 8
pileated woodpecker -- 5
woodpecker sp -- 21
horned lark -- 2*
gray jay -- 2
Steller's jay -- 10
Clark's nutcracker -- 11
black-billed magpie -- 14
American crow -- 2
common raven -- 31
black-capped chickadee -- 56 (riparian/deciduous brush)
mountain chickadee -- 417 (evergreen forests everywhere)
red-breasted nuthatch -- 164 (1:3 ratio, RBNU:MOCH seems to be norm)
white-breasted nuthatch -- 7 (Cape Labelle Rd only)
pygmy nuthatch -- 36* (arrivals/resident? -- Cape Labelle Rd only)
American dipper -- 3** ("singing" along Beaver Creek)
golden-crowned kinglet -- 2*
western bluebird -- 2* (Havillah)
mountain bluebird -- 1* (Wauconda)
Townsend's solitare -- 1
American robin -- 2* (Oroville-Toroda Creek Rd)
Bohemian waxwing -- 52** (Wauconda)
northern shrike -- 1
European starling -- 42
song sparrow -- 2* (Oroville-Toroda Creek Rd)
dark-eyed junco -- 79* (scattered throughout, esp. Cape Labelle Rd)
Lapland longspur -- 3** (feed lot with RWBB's, not with SNBU)
snow bunting -- 435** (Wauconda & Havillah)

red-winged blackbird -- 510* (grouping about still frozen cattail marshes,
but most not yet territorial, one even at Molson where I've never seen a bird
in my life before, and this time, the *only* bird there! A *definite* sign
of Spring if there ever was one!!)

Cassin's finch -- 53* (Cape Labelle Rd only)
red crossbill -- 438 (everywhere/anywhere in Douglas Fir)
white-winged crossbill -- 65** (spruce ONLY -- several small flocks)
common redpoll -- 61** (several small flocks, Chesaw - near Molson)
pine siskin -- 336* (little groups everywhere and noisy!)
house sparrow -- 2

Moose -- 2*** (Wauconda & Lost Lake!!!)

{{{A likely northern hawk owl well described by a local at Wauconda, in open
country, perching on utility poles and tree snags along rt.20, ~3 weeks ago
-- ho hum -- bummer! Everyone knows great-horned, and several mentioned
seeing the "big" (great) gray ones out in the open occasionally}}}


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