Tweets,

I should report on our WOS Okanogan County field trip this past weekend.
Poorwills were heard calling in the predawn around Loomis. We started off at
5am from Loomis and made our way up past Palmer Lake to Champney's Slough
where we found Black-headed Grosbeak, Bittern (heard), Wilson's Phalarope,
and nesting Long-billed Curlews. The spring seems a bit late in this area as
we dipped Gray Catbird, a normally abundant species by this date. Empidonax
flycatchers were also found in very small numbers and only a single catharus
thrush, a Swainson's at Lost Lake, was noted.

Making our way back through Loomis by 9:30am we found all three common
humming birds, Rufous, Calliope, and Black-chinned at several feeders just
east of 'downtown'.

Farther east, least 15 to 20 singing male Bobolinks were present in the
Aenaes Valley hay fields near the interesection of Hwy 20 and the Aenas
Valley Road.

Lost Lake produced Black Tern, nesting Common Loon, Williamson's Sapsucker
and Swainson's Thrush as well as several other forest species. Nesting
Red-necked Grebes were present on several lakes including Beaver lake where
we also found a male Willie Sapsucker, Black Terns, Barrows Goldeneye, and
two Blue-winged Teal.

The day ended in a *small*, nearly undetectable burn near Moses Meadow with
2 pairs of White-headed (best bird of the day), at least one Black-backed
and two Hairy Woodpeckers. This area can be reached by driving east on Hwy
155 from Omak for 14.4 miles taking the Crawfish Lake road to the north.
Follow this road for 15.7 miles, passing through Moses Meadow and on down
the other side of the mountain. Look for two beer cans hung on a log
hanging over the west side of the road. The birds were found within a
couple of hundred yards of the west side of the road. This is in the SE
corner of T35N R30E and Delorme Atlas page 115 D-8. A Northern Goshawk
with a groundsquirrel as prey was also seen here.

A total of 115+ species were observed by one or more of the participants.


Species seen on 5/19:

Common Loon 2
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Red-necked Grebe 5, Beaver Lake, Spectacle Lake
American Bittern 1 heard only
Great Blue Heron 2
Canada Goose 30+
Wood Duck 7
Green-winged Teal 1
Mallard Common
Blue-winged Teal 2, Beaver Lake
Cinnamon Teal 4, Palmer Lake, Beaver Lake
American Wigeon 4
Ring-necked Duck 20, near Bonaparte Lake
Barrows Goldeneye pair at Beaver Lake (normally breed here)
Common Merganser 1 female on Palmer Lake
Osprey 2
Bald Eagle 4, (2 imm south of Palmer Lake, 2 Ad. at Champney's
Slough)
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1, Bonapart Lake
Norther Goshawk 1 ad.
Red-tailed Hawk 5+
American Kestrel 5+
Chukar Heard only, north end of Palmer Lake
Ring-necked Pheasant Common
Ruffed Grouse 1
California Quail Common
Virginia Rail 2+ heard, south end Palmer Lake
Sora Several heard, south end Palmer Lake
American Coot 3+, with young at Champney's Slough
Killdeer Common
Spotted Sandpiper 5
Long-billed Curlew 6
Common Snipe 10+
Wilson's Phalarope 15
Ring-billed Gull 1
Black Tern 25, Bonaparte, Lost, Beaver Lakes
Rock Dove 1, Champney's Slough
Mourning dove Common
Common Poorwill heard in Loomis
Vaux's Swift 3
White-throated Swift 5
Black-chinned Hummingbird 2
Calliope Hummingbird 1
Rufous HB 3
Belted Kingfisher 3
Lewis Woodpecker Common
Red-naped Sapsucker 3
Williamson's Sapsucker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 2
WHITE-HEADED WP 4
Black-backed WP 1
Northern Flicker Common
Pileated WP 2
Western Wood-Pewee Common
Hammond's Flycatcher 1
Dusky Flycatcher 1
Pacific Slope FC 2
Say's Phoebe 10+
Western Kingbird Common
Tree Swallow Common
Violet Green Swallow Common
N. Rough-winged SW 5
Cliff Swallow Common
Barn Swallow Common
Gray Jay 5
Steller's Jay 3
Clark's Nutcracker 5
Magpie 6
American Crow 10+
Raven 2
Black-capped Chickadee 20
Mountain Chickadee 5
Red-breasted Nuthatch Common
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Brown Creeper 1
Rock Wren 1, heard
Canyon Wren 2, heard
House Wren Common
Marsh Wren Few
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Common
Western Bluebird 3
Mountain Bluebird 3
Townsend's Solitaire 5
Swainson's Thrush 1
Robin Common
Varied Thrush 1, Bonaparte Lake
Starling Common
Solitary Vireo Common
Warbling Vireo 6
Orange-crowned Warbler 4
Nashville Warbler 5
Yellow Warbler Common
Yellow-rumped WArbler Common
Townsend's Warbler 4
Western Tanager 8
Black-headed Grosbeak 2
Lazuli Bunting 5
Spotted Towhee 8
Chipping Sparrow Common
Lark Sparrow 1, Champney's Slough
Savannah Sparrow Common, Aenaes VAlley
Song Sparrow Common
Dark-eyed Junco Common
Bobolink 20, Aenaes Valley. Also 4 at Champney's Slough on
5/18.
Red-winged Blackbird Common
Western Meadowlark Common
Yellow-headers 10
Brewers BB Common
Cowbird Common
Bullock's Oriole Common
Cassin's Finch Common
House Finch 3
Red Crossbill 6
Pine siskin 10+
American Goldfinch Fairly Common
Evening Grosbeak heard in Loomis
House Sparrow Common in towns
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Scott Ray Washington Birder Newsletter
Yakima, WA PO Box 191
email: scray at wolfenet.com Moxee, WA 98908
http://www.wolfenet.com/~scray/
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