Subject: Pend Oreille Co -- a winter desert!
Date: Jan 24 09:39:34 1998
From: PAGODROMA - PAGODROMA at aol.com


Day 4; Friday, 23 January 1998:

NOW I know why there are so few (next to none) reports coming from Pend
Oreille and Stevens Counties in Washington's northeast most corner. No one
writes helpful 'negative' reports! Okay, well, here's one :-)) There is
virtually nothing here. I didn't even find a Mountain Chickadee all day. I
didn't find my first Black-capped Chickadee until 10am, nor my first Red
Crossbill and Red-breasted Nuthatch until 1:30pm (only one encounter!). There
was only one flock of Pine Siskins all day. Also only one flock of Bohemian
Waxwings (43 along the Pend Oreille River between Usk and Cusick), and only
one Northern Shrike. Had it not been for the waterfowl and water birds on the
river, my list total for the day's hardcore nonstop effort would have stood at
a paltry 15(!) and a very very low running individuals count to boot! The
single flocks of Red Crossbills and Pine Siskins were seen only on the
Sullivan Lake loop, Ione to Metaline Falls. 33 hard-earned species was the
total list for the day. I doubt it will be any better today, perhaps even
lower as I march off to NW Pend Oreille and NE Stevens. That's okay; it's not
the list that's important; it's learning and getting a real feel for the
winter avian life in this seldom visited part of the state.

The miles and miles of vast forest and open areas were dead dead quiet. Great
habitat and lots of potential for Northern Hawk and Great Gray Owls -- too
much potential habitat actually. One probably needs to 'live here' rather
than just being overly hopeful in a short-time visit and shot at it. Nothing
stirring nor could I even raise anything by burning my pischer out pisching
and tooting. It was a calm windless snowy day -- light snow gently falling
non-stop all day but not really hampering birding and visibility. Quite
pleasant actually with the day's total accumulation of only 2 to 3 inches on
top of an 18-24 inch base. Even the little towns which I explored street by
street were lifeless avian voids apart from each town having it's single token
little flock of European Starlings, usually a dozen or less, and Metaline
Falls boasted an absolute zero for any passerines.

The 15 species of waterfowl on the Pend Oreille River saved the day with
enormous aggregations of several thousand Redhead Ducks (by far the most
abundant species) and the several hundred Common Mergansers were impressive
along with the others. Best waterfowl area was between Usk and Cusick. Two
Trumpeter Swans were on the river at Metaline Falls.

Intellicast radar and forecast looks mostly dry for northeast Washington
today, maybe even a ray of sunshine again. What a useful tool the computer and
the preciseness of the real time Intellicast radar images have proven to be
for planning strategy for each day's birding effort. So far, the bouts of
rain have been at night, light and short-lived, and yesterday I stayed in the
pleasant and manageable snow zone all day. Snow changed to light rain well
after dark, but now all is gone far far away between here and the Cascade
Crest. Fortunately, the Cascades have managed to bleed off most of the wet
and weaken the onslaught of warm Pacific storms by the time they get over
here.

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
(on the road -- Ione, Pend Oreille Co., WA)