Hello Ken,
Great report and Great Birds. The only bird Patrick told me of was the
WHIMBREL you found on Atkins Lake ,he was to tired to to give me a full
list what you all saw.
Ruth

----------
> From: lu&krk <xenops at email.msn.com>
> To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Subject: N.E. Washington Birding Trip
> Date: Monday, August 30, 1999 10:35 AM
>
> Patrick Sullivan, Dave Beaudette, and I, Ken Knittle, just returned from
the
> Northeast part of Washington. Our first birding stop was Friday
afternoon
> up Cameron Lake to Duley Lake where we had 9 shorebirds species with the
> best being 2 Short-billed Dowitchers, and a small flock of Red-necked
> Phalaropes. The sun was going down as we headed down Greenaway Rd. which
> produced a Solitary Sandpiper and a family of Gray Partridges in the dust
of
> the road with the young sparring each other as young roosters do. At the
> bottom we went around Big Goose Lake and had Great-horned Owl and several
> Common Poorwills. We were planning to owl in Ferry Co. So when we got
to
> Hwy. 21 and headed north from Cache Creek Rd. we stopped and listened and
> immediately had a Western Screech-Owl. We stopped 4 other places and had
> owls calling at each place: Barred, Great-horned, Northern Pygmy, and
> Saw-whet. We did not use any tapes or called any of them up. They just
> were calling when we would stop and listen.
>
> We camped at 13-mile Trailhead and had the Pygmy Owl there plus late
Verges
> and a dead Western Rattlesnake. We checked out the shorebird spot south
of
> Curlew Lake and only found 2 Solitary Sandpipers---pretty dead as was
Curlew
> Lake and Boulder Creek Pass. At Barstow we headed east up
Rettinger-Richart
> Rd. where we found Common Yellowthroat, both Rails, and several duck
> species. The sewer ponds at Colville looked good, but we couldn't get in
to
> see them due to NO TRESPASSING signs, although we did see a Red-necked
> Phalarope. Our next stop was some ponds along the road to Little Pend
> Oreille NWR where we hit the jackpot for Stevens Co. shorebirds which are
> tough to find. Where there was water/ponds on both sides of the road we
> found 2 more Solitary Sandpipers, 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper, another
> Short-billed Dowitcher (rare in eastern Wash. anywhere) and 2
Double-crested
> Cormorants--another tough Stevens Co. bird.
>
> All afternoon we spent going around Calispell Peak in 12-inches of fine
dust
> on the logging roads and ran into the Airforce ground troops practicing.
It
> was super hot, but we pished out a family of Chestnut-backed Chickadees
with
> Mountain Chickadees. Single Sharp-shinned and Cooper's passed by and a
> female Mountain Bluebird and Hammond's Flycatcher which hadn't moved
south
> yet. Much of that dust was still on the car and in it when we got back
> home.
>
> Calispell Lake is super low! No good for viewing shorebirds from the
road.
> So 5 Semipalmated Plovers were our best shorebirds. We camped at Pioneer
> State Park just north of Newport and after many hours of campers talking,
> etc. a family of Barred Owls started talking to each other. I forgot to
> mention at Usk there was an Osprey swimming. It took about 20 mins. for
> him/her to make it to shore of a distance of about 200 feet.
>
> We birded Williams Valley which is due west of Deer Park where there are
> quite a few dairies and Calif. Quail. It looked good for Barn Owl too
which
> we'll have to save for our next trip. Down along Long Lake in a burn we
had
> House, Rock, and Canyon Wrens and a large flock of Swifts that were
> following a thunderstorm type cloud.
>
> Reardan Ponds were high. Tough shorebirding! Our best bird was a Stilt
> Sandpiper which was with a Dowitcher too far away to ID, later talking to
> Jim Acton who was there a hour before us who had a Short-billed
Dowitcher.
> Jim also said that the Swanson Lakes were birdless---I'm glad we didn't
go.
> We did stop by the Davenport Cem.---DEAD! Has been dead all summer so
far
> (per Jim)
>
> Our best bird of the trip (which we always save for last) was one juv.
> Whimbrel at Atkins Lake just north of Hwy. 2 in east Douglas Co.
Whimbrel
> are very rare in eastern Washington anywhere.
>
> Ken Knittle back in Gold Bar with a dusty car
> xenops at msn.com
>
>