Richard et al.,

George Gerdts and I and 12 stalwarts did our annual eastern Washington
presidents' long weekend tour. I've been too swamped trying to catch up with
all the work I didn't get done over that weekend to post anything. We had a
good but not outstanding trip. As usual we stayed at Campbell's Lodge at
Chelan, arriving via Moses Lake (where we saw two beautiful adult female (?)
Snowy Owls, along L NE between Nelson and 3rd NE) on Saturday. Sunday we
went up McNeil Canyon to Withrow, Mansfield, and down Foster Creek to
Bridgeport. Hoping for action of the Great Gray sort especially but also
hoping for some of the goodies Richard had reported last month we decided to
make a run for Tonasket and Havillah (our normal route is over Loup Loup to
Twisp and Winthrop). Since we had to get back to Chelan that night and
return to Seattle Monday we didn't have much time. In fact we didn't manage
to get to Tonasket until after 3 PM and got up into the fog below Havillah
about 4 PM. One lone pair of Red Crossbills on the way up that flew off
before we could get off the road properly. No Great Gray but several
Saw-whets very vocal at the traditional Great Gray spot, including a pair
that we never saw but with which we conversed long and loud for nearly an
hour. Then we got stuck up that road, not extricating the van until 8:00 PM.
Made for a long day. No Gyrs either even though we were in the area at the
same time as both a white and a gray gyr were reported by other parties. We
did keep a tally of the raptors seen over the three day trip, which is quite
impressive (approximate totals follow):

Bald Eagle, 28; N. Harrier, 15; Cooper's Hawk, 2 (1 adult, 1 immature);
NORTHERN GOSHAWK (1 adult male at the Antilon snowmobile trailhead above
Manson); Red-tailed Hawk, 37; Rough-legged Hawk, 25 (which included just one
adult light phase and three dark phase birds, the rest all 1st year light
phase birds); Golden Eagle, 2; American Kestrel, 25; Merlin, 2; Prairie
Falcon, 1 (near Mansfield).

No Snow Buntings amongst the Horned Larks on the Waterville Plateau; no
rosy-finches (for Jerry Converse) on the Lenore Lake cliffs (but a pair of
Chukars and an early Rock Wren); no Sharp-tailed Grouse along Foster Creek,
and no Gray Partridge. It felt like spring and according to some locals
there had been a grand exodus of winter birds during the previous week or
two, plus much of the snow cover was gone. We did manage to locate one flock
of 25 Bohemian Waxwings west of Chelan, but that was all. No redpolls. The
goshawk was the high point for me.

Gene Hunn, SEattle, hunnhome at accessone.com

At 09:03 AM 2/19/98 EST, you wrote:
>Okay, alright, it's Thursday(!) already... Out with it somebody! Do I sound
>impatient? '-) What *really* happened up in the Okanogan Highlands this past
>long President's Day weekend? I know that there were at least two major
>organized trips up there, ... Didn't Seattle Audubon have a trip up there
too?? Gene,
>care to pass the vapors and enlighten us a bit???
>
>
>Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
> 47.56N, 122.13W
>(Seattle/Bellevue, WA USA)
>
>