Bob,

If Boreal Owls are around, I suspect they will respond very quickly. A few
calls of a tape is plenty. These birds curiosity seems easily satisfied.
Anything more than a snippet of the tape is probably counterproductive.

Spruce Grouse are a function of observer effort. I'm told one good bird dog
is worth 10 of us. If you don't have a good dog, it's probably a matter of
either luck, or a lot of hard work (Okanogan Highlands deadfall is
legendary-I broke a rib on the stuff once when I slipped on a slipperty
log. Talk about pain).

Ptarmigan-now's the time when hens are still leading their chicks around.
Later in the fall they seem to disappear. Dunno for sure where they go in
this neck of the woods. In BC, some head into the avalanche slide paths,
some into the willow/alder valley bottoms, some stay high (on windswept
terrain).A challenging study would be determining winter habitat use of
ptarmigan in Washington. Radio-tagging would make it easier, but someone
would have to rationalize this sort of expenditure.

In the fall, even if the above birds aren't around, one can enjoy the great
raptor migration on Tiffany Mountain. Hike up from Freezeout Ridge to
treeline and look to the west shoulder of the mountain. If there is a west
or northwest wind, you may well be treated to a great show. I've noted
15-20 raptors/hour on some of these visits. I know thats not a "show"
compared to eastern North America, but add in boreal finches calling
overhead, flocks of Bohemian Waxwings (late October on, eating common
juniper berries, also longspurs, Snow Buntings, rosy finches), great
botanizing, and, of course, sublime views-you've got a great trip!

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA

----------
> From: Norton360 at aol.com
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Great birds query to Andy Stepniewski.
> Date: Thursday, August 14, 1997 11:49 AM
>
> Andy,
> I enjoyed your reply to Scott Downes. I am very interested in those
birds
> also. Can you give dates that you had BOREAL OWL, PTARMIGAN, and SPRUCE
> GROUSE at the various places and also how many times and dates that you
tried
> for them at those spots and were unsuccessful. I would be happy to plan
my
> birding year to try for any of the three. (It helps with my wife if I can
> tell her that I have a specific goal. Otherwise it seems she thinks I
just
> want to get away.)
> Bob