On reading Mark Houston's report of a Northern Hawk Owl near Spokane the
evening of 31 January, I picked up the phone and called Steve Pink in
Bellevue. He was game for the chase and asked Jim Flynn to come along; the
hawk owl would be life birds for both. They left the Seattle area at 0100 on
the morning of 1 February and met me in Ellensburg at 0400. In one vehicle,
we motored east through the fog to Cheney, breakfasting in Moses Lake.

The owl was on the campus of Eastern Washington University in Cheney
according to the transcript of the Washington Bird Box the evening of 31
January.

We arrived not long after dawn and spent over an hour looking for the bird
in the neighborhood of Washington and Elm, finding Mountain Chickadees,
juncos, and the usual yard birrds. Not seeing the owl in that area, we
broadened the search area. While driving south along Washington just south
of the stadium, both Steve and Jim caught sight of the owl! It was in a
leafless tree at the entrance of the Sports Center. The owl was very worn
with ragged tail feathers and looked a little wet. It was alert, however,
and seemed tame. We set up all our three scopes to study this subarctic
visitor, noted perhaps, less than fifteen times before in Washington.
Students coming and going quickly got interested. We shared our scopes and
the story of this owl.

After a few minutes it flew to some nearby trees, whereupon five Pine
Grosbeaks appeared in the next tree! It then became obvious the owl was
closely eyeing the grosbeaks, craning its head 180 degrees to spy on them,
exposing the pygmy-owl like black stripes on the back of its head (it's
thought the genus Glaucidium and Surnia are fairly closely related - both
have symmetric ear openings and are mainly diurnal hunters).

Then, we noted a singing Townsend's Solitaire below a crab apple on the
other side of a walkway with lots of hanging fruit. It was also clear the
grosbeaks were attracted to the crab apples as well,but, guess who was in
the way? The hawk owl! Although mammals make up the bulk of a hawk owls diet
in the breeding season, a marked shift to birds - as large as ptarmigan -
takes place in winter when rodents become more difficult to obtain
(Johnsgard, P. 1988. North American Owls: biology and natural history.
Smithsonian). While we were there, the grosbeaks avoided the crab apple but
flew off to another one a short distance away to feed until flushed by a
garbage truck.

What a neat experience! Northern Hawk Owl and Pine Grosbeaks, side by side.

Heading west, we stopped a few times in ponderosa pines to see what was
about. Several stops in and around the state hospital in Medical Lake (we
wondered what was going on behind those old walls) produced Pygmy Nuthatch
and a couple of Red Crossbills, but very few other birds.

It was west now towards Grand Coulee along the "Old State Highway north of
Highway 2 and then the main road west of Davenport. Ravens, a few Horned
Larks and a couple of Snow Buntings were all we saw. Incredibly, we saw only
one raptor along the entire drive to Wilbur: a lone Red-tailed Hawk.

West of Wilbur, we explored the plateau country east and south of Grand
Coulee. Finally the fog lifted a little here, making the birding a lot more
pleasurable. Along Baghdad Road west of Highway 174 (DeLorme p. 86, B-1)
were 200 Gray-crowned Rosy Finches along the roadside. The snow was much
deeper here than around Cheney and Davenport; the few weedy patches were
right alongside the plowed road. Farther west on the plateau (p. 85, B-8,
along the section roads were two Prairie Falcons, six Rough-legged Hawks
(where I had seven a month ago on the same route on the Grand Coulee
Christmas Count) and a scattering of Gray Partridge (three coveys totalling
about 40 birds), Horned Larks, Common Ravens and Snow Buntings. Really
exciting here on the desolate, snowy plateau was a Short-eared Owl. It was
difficult to imagine how the owl would make a living out there, but Steve
saw a vole on the surface of the deep snow, so it seems there is life out
there, though mostly hidden from view.

Descending into the Grand Coulee, we found all the lakes frozen; that
severely limited birding opportunities. One flock of grazing (on wheat
stubble) Canada Geese, a couple Green-winged Teal, one Common Goldeneye, one
coot, one Herring Gull was the bird list. A lone Northern Harrier, perhaps
five Bald Eagles,one Rough-legged Hawk and a few Rock Doves in the sky was
about it. Grand Coulee country in the the depth of winter now.