Subject: Day 8: WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL bonanza con't
Date: Jan 29 15:49:51 1998
From: PAGODROMA at aol.com - PAGODROMA at aol.com


Day 8; Tuesday, January 27, 1998 -- Okanogan Highlands

Today, the effort was intensely focused on systematically assessing the real
magnitude and distribution of WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS by checking out all the
suspected likely 'hot spots' along the Havillah-Chesaw-Molson loop, then an
afternoon searching for Redpolls in the valley alder thickets.

In short, WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS are everywhere; many many flocks; total
count ~820(!!). I surely could have easily gone way over a thousand had I
spent the whole day at it and checked out the promising north slope spruce
forest access to Lost Lake, and other probable areas SE & SW of Chesaw. The
Redpolls seem to be gone for now or just quietly hiding somewhere I didn't get
to. Bummer :-(

Winter is still very much intact up here and the current thaw has had little
or no impact as temperatures remained below freezing all day. All the back
'primitive' roads remain snow covered and frozen and easily navigable with
snow cover averaging about 18 to 24 inches in the forested areas. Even so, a
few Red-winged Blackbirds were setting up territories and singing in a few
places. The Red-winged Blackbird to these people up in this area is surely
the first marker that Spring is perhaps not so far off. At Molson,
undoubtedly and routinely the coldest 'town' in the entire state, as usual the
area was birdless save for two die-hard ducks, a male Common Goldeneye and a
male Redhead in two of the tiniest spots of open water on the otherwise frozen
Sidley Lake which is a haven for ice fishermen no matter how cold it gets up
here!

I commenced the day with an 'owl prowl' (minus owl calling) at 5am at the
Highlands Snow Park, quietly wandering around on the roads and along the
groomed ski and snow mobile trails. The Great Gray Owl was to remain mostly
silent and elusive. Given some of the curious and strange noises they made
during the night, I wonder if they may be commencing nesting now. I need to
read up on Great Gray vocalizations and what they mean. Great Horned Owls
greeted the faint glimmer of first light, three Saw-whets cranked up even more
intensely than before as if that were even possible, and the howling coyotes
are regular feature of the soundscape.

With daylight, songbirds cranked up with activity. Crossbills were noted
right off including equally mixed flocks of Red and White-winged flying
overhead and feeding in the tops of Douglas Fir. Hmm... mixing now, eh, and
in Douglas Fir which I thought White-wingeds seemed to shun. This was later
to prove to be an early morning anomaly I think. Other birds of note along
the trails during the first hour of daylight included Pileated Woodpeckers
(3), White-breasted Nuthatch (2), Gray and Steller's Jays, all of which I
missed on the December trip.

The previously noted spruce grove 1/4 mile north of the Sitzmark Ski area
continues to be an easy hot spot for White-winged Crossbills. There were at
least 140 in there this morning. The flock is virtually PURE White-wingeds.
There is the odd 3 or 4 Red Crossbills here and there, usually not associated
and if so, remain on the periphery. Incidentally, when I passed by this area
again in the late afternoon, there were five Ruffed Grouse along the side of
the road feeding on buds up high in the little clump of deciduous trees toward
the east side of the first (west) section of the spruce grove.

Another good area is all along the snowy Mary Anne Creek Road, Fields Road,
and Molson Summit Road, between Chesaw and Molson. The White-winged
Crossbills were found all through this area in flocks ranging from 35 to 200.
Watch for nipped off cones on the ground if the birds haven't become obvious
already. Usually, the White-winged Crossbills stay up in the crowns of all
these trees, so photo opportunities may prove very difficult. However, if you
have a good Pygmy Owl tape or can imitate one well, it takes little enticing
the excite the whole flock plus everything else in the area. A few Pygmy Owl
notes, and the whole flock becomes airborne in a frenzied electrical crackling
chatter and they stay right there time after time intermittently swirling
overhead, settling back in the trees, and even sometimes will come down low
and close at eye level when a golden photo opportunity might be possible.
There is little more spectacular than having both species of crossbills, both
sexes, all plumages, adorning the branches of a nearby dead scrubby tree in
full sunlight like so many multi-colored Christmas ornaments! I've seen this
a number of times up here, today being no different, and it's the net result
of playing back the Pygmy Owl tape that on occasion brings them down to such
close proximity, sometimes even to within arms reach.

As mentioned, the Redpoll search was a bust; only two little flocks of 7+ 5.
Three dazzling flocks of Snow Buntings (40, 125, 5) were encountered in widely
separate areas between Havillah and Molson swirling over the snowy treeless
rangeland. Each time, they were at first barely detectable against the
blinding bright sunlit snowy landscape. No Gray-crowned Rosy Finches were
encountered although there is usually a flock of two somewhere in this area in
winter, and three passes through the Sharp-tailed Grouse area on Mary Anne
Creek Road also proved empty.

Another fine outstanding cattle feedlot with sparrow haven brush across the
road boasted a remarkable collection of birds I rarely or never see up here in
the frozen frigid Highlands in the winter including Dark-eyed Junco (12), Song
Sparrow (1), Tree Sparrow (1), American Crow (3), Red-winged Blackbird (18),
MOURNING DOVE (8), and another BLUE JAY (1 with two Steller's). This feed lot
on previous dead of winter visits has produced Horned Lark, Snow Bunting,
Lapland Longspur, and Gray-crowned Rosy Finches, but none of those this time.
This feedlot is a bird haven in every way and is located 2 miles north of the
Sitzmark WWCB site (and Muskrat Lake) along Kipling Road (elev.~4,000 ft). I
am a little uneasy about intruding for very long here as there are lots of
obnoxious barking dogs and your spying presence to the residents living along
here can't possibly go unnoticed. I really need to introduce myself and
ICEBIRD (my car) here and explain what I'm doing so they won't be alarmed.

---------------
Since the Okanogan Highlands is such a very special area to me, I'll post the
entire days list here below.

Total species = 46, Total Individuals = 1,593

Weather: Bright overcast (am), mostly sunny (pm), wind calm, temp. 18-28F,
elevation all 3,500-4,500ft (except ~2500ft for the Green-winged Teal only),
snow cover 18-24 inches (nothing fresh), water areas 95% frozen, main roads
mostly compact snow, ice, and crackling iced slush, "primitive" backroads
mostly snow covered but plowed except the usual most primitive ones which
aren't passable anyway.

Green-winged Teal (7) -- still lingering on Lower Beaver Creek since late Dec.
Mallard (4)
Redhead (1) -- ad.male, Sidley Lake, Molson
Common Goldeneye (1) -- ad.male, Sidley Lake, Molson
Bald Eagle (1) -- adult
Red-tailed Hawk (1)
Rough-legged Hawk (6) -- one dark
Blue Grouse (1)
Ruffed Grouse (5) -- Sitzmark WWCB site
Rock Dove (28)
Mourning Dove (8) -- Kipling Rd. feedlot
Great Horned Owl (4)
Barred Owl (2)
Great Gray Owl (1 or 2) -- heard only
Northern Saw-whet Owl (4)
Belted Kingfisher (1) -- sex unknown, Lower Beaver Creek
Downy Woodpecker (5)
Hairy Woodpecker (2)
Northern Flicker (1)
Pileated Woodpecker (3)
Gray Jay (2)
Steller's Jay (4)
BLUE JAY (1) -- Kipling Rd. feedlot
Clark's Nutcracker (6)
Black-billed Magpie (12)
American Crow (3)
Common Raven (28)
Black-capped Chickadee (27)
Mountain Chickadee (97)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (64)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (3)
Northern Shrike (5)
European Starling (58)
American Tree Sparrow (1) -- Kipling Rd. feedlot
Song Sparrow (3)
White-crowned Sparrow (2)
Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco (18)
Snow Bunting (170) -- flocks of 40, 125, 5
Red-winged Blackbird (22)
Red Crossbill (135)
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL (820)
--flocks: 12, 15, 45, 140, 15, 2, 140, 35, 200, 65, 110, 18, 23
Common Redpoll (12) -- little flocks of 7 and 5
Pine Siskin (12) -- seem to be staying up way high this winter
American Goldfinch (13)
House Sparrow (11)
---------------

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
(on the road -- Tonasket, Okanogan Co.)

Oh S***!! Fine time to discover this -- What a waste of precious time this
has been! I can't hook up my computer to the phone system here at the Red
Apple Inn in Tonasket! Now, I'm 3 days messagge posts going on 4 behind.
Everyone probably thinks I met with misfortune or am dead. Screw it --
5:30am, I'm out-o-here for the Waterville Plateau.