Subject: Day 9: Waterville Plateau (incl.Re: Rough-legged Hawks)
Date: Jan 30 11:30:54 1998
From: PAGODROMA at aol.com - PAGODROMA at aol.com


Day 9; Wednesday, January 28, 1998 -- Waterville Plateau, Douglas Co.

Last day of this wild winter birding eastern Washington marathon and on the
road home. As anticipated, it wasn't the most ideal time to visit and explore
the vast grass, sage, and wheat growing tablelands of the Waterville Plateau.

One of my most favorite sentences in Wahl and Paulson's "A Guide to Bird
Finding in Washington" regarding winter birding in this area reads: "When
considering this trip, first check the weather and avoid winter storms".
Avoid winter storms??!!! Hey, that's exactly prime time to BE there! Well,
it's best not to BE there during the worst of blizzard conditions when the
whole area becomes an absolute unblemished disorienting 'white-out'. The best
time is right at the storms tail end as the last flakes are still falling and
the roads are beginning to be cleared and sanded. When the fields are buried
deep and blanketed white, ALL the little ground birds (Horned Larks and Snow
Buntings, and sometimes Lapland Longspurs and Rosy Finches) in their glorious
multitudes can be found out on the roadway in immense flocks numbering into
the thousands.

Wednesday's visit was not one of those days. An ominous thick freezing fog
clung to the rim of the plateau along the Columbia River all day which when
viewed from below on the valley floor early in the morning at Bridgeport
suggested a poor day at the top. Fortunately, the fog remained confined to
the rim. At the top visibility was unlimited under a bright overcast (am)
becoming sunny after noon while it remained foggy and overcast below. The
plateau was blanketed in snow, but not so deep that most of the sought after
ground birds were widely scattered over the fields and plains with no flocks
greater than 135 Horned Larks ever encountered. Most were in scattered pairs
to flocks numbering less than 40. The total running 'clicker' count for the
day's effort on Horned Larks was only 1,165. In pouring over all of those,
only one Snow Bunting and one Lapland Longspur were seen and not really even
closely associated with the Horned Larks.

Travels on the plateau were strictly limited to the paved roads between
Bridgeport, Lamoine, Mansfield, St. Andrews, and Waterville. All of my
favorite dirt 'primitive' roads up here were too thawed and mucky to risk the
unpleasantries of slop and mud and getting stuck and stranded in some of those
mostly uninhabited areas.

The only exception being the frozen and icy morning loop from Bridgeport via
Foster Creek and Central Ferry Wildlife Areas (called something else now and
both lumped together and posted under one name which I forget exactly as I
didn't write it down), along the rim in the dense but thin layer of freezing
fog, then back to Bridgeport via Dyer Hill and Central Ferry Canyon Road. No
Sharp-tailed Grouse were spotted up in the trees feeding on buds as can be
found in these areas on occasion. A small very isolated area of Ponderosa
Pine just below the rim and fog on the Central Ferry Canyon Road produced an
unexpected flock of 14 Pygmy Nuthatches. A little further down the canyon,
0.7 miles from intersection with Cranes Road was a male COMMON REDPOLL with
five American Goldfinches feeding in a good patch of alder thickets (DeLorme
p.100, D-2). Some of the roads coming off Dyer Hill look like they would be
really a bad choice if it's muddy.

98-01-29, Reto Risen (riesenr at chem.ubc.ca) asks:

<< Is there an exceptional Short-eared Owl and Rough-legged Hawk situation
elsewhere in tweeterland?
>>
I counted 41 Rough-legged Hawks and 9 Short-eared Owls on the Waterville
Plateau. Distribution was not nearly as uniform as I've generally observed in
the past. There were vast areas with few or none. However, most notable were
24 Rough-leggeds and all the Short-eared Owls concentrated around the small
'grange' of St. Andrews (DeLorme p.85, C-5). This struck me as a very high
density for such a relative small area, but I have little comparative
experience or local knowledge in this area. The effort in this area was
confined only to the paved roads of which there are about 9 miles worth around
St. Andrews (St. Andrews Roads S, E, and W) which allows a pretty good
overview of the whole area without having to trek off on the dirt/mud roads.
I'm sure I would have found at least a few more if the 'primitive' dirt roads,
especially one of my favorites, Heritage Road, had it not been thawed and
boggy. I don't care to take any chances what-so-ever in this sparsely
populated area when the roads are mucky.

This area around St. Andrews is very interesting looking -- lots of extensive
grassland, marshes, and a few shallow lakes, and can be good for migrant
Sandhill Cranes in the spring. Perhaps even another 'surprise' or two; I
won't dare say publicly exactly what I have in mind '-) I'll just wait and
let you know if and when on the unlikely chance I happen to find one someday.
Supposedly Sage Grouse live around here in the sage lands. Does anyone know
or willing to share any exact locations of where I might try observing a lek
in this area in March? Thanks.

Raptor and s-e owl counts on the Waterville Plateau (1/28/98):
Northern Harrier (8) -- 7 at St. Andrews
Red-tailed Hawk (12) -- 7 concentrated around St. Andrews
Rough-legged Hawk (41) -- 1 dark; 24 concentrated around St. Andrews
unid. buteo (6) -- Red-tailed / Rough-legged sp. at St. Andrews
American Kestrel (1)
Prairie Falcon (1)
Short-eared Owl (9) -- all around the St. Andrews area at dusk
other:
Northern Shrike (10)
Horned Lark (1,165)
Snow bunting (1)
Lapland Longspur (1)

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA USA)