Ahhh yes, I promised to report on our trip to eastern Washington last Monday
the 13th. I was joined by Greg Toffic, Ryan Shaw, and Al Mangold.

I ended up with quite few responses from Tweets about where we might go. The
most notable thing about the pre-trip information was that, basically, nobody
had seen anything this winter. We didn't let that stop us.

We set out looking for Snow Bunting, Bohemian Waxwing, Lapland Longspur,
Gray-crowned Rosy Finch, and Common Redpoll, with secondary targets of
Long-eared Owl, Gray Partridge, Snowy Owl, Chukkar, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Pine
Grosbeak, and Golden Eagle. And, of course, we wouldn't have minded those
Whooper Swans:) Obviously, we couldn't even hope to try for all these species,
and so we deliberately gave up on some.

The route I decided on was Ellensburg, Wanapum, Soap Lake, Lake Lenore, Dry
Falls, Lake Atkins, and the Waterville Plateau. We followed this route, though
we ran out of daylight by the time we reached Mansfield, and never got as far
as Brewster/Bridgefield.

On our target birds our total was ZERO. ZILCH. NADA. THE BIG GOOSE-EGG.

However, the weather was gorgeous -- sunny, warm, and windless in Ellensburg
(HUH?); cold, clear, and not too windy on the Waterville Plateau, with about
1/2 inch of snow on the fields.

Our best birding was probably in Ellensburg. From Look Rd. near the airport,
we had in fairly rapid succession the following:

Northern Shrike
Prairie Falcon - absolutely great sighting
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Great Horned Owl (2)
American Kestrel
Rough-legged Hawk

At Wanapum we added a ROCK WREN. At Lake Lenore we had Tundra Swans.

At the Dry Falls overlook we had two immature BALD EAGLES and a great look at a
CANYON WREN.

At Atkins Lake we had a large, gray falcon, definitely either PEREGRINE OR
GYRFALCON. But the darned thing would NEVER let us get close enough to tell.
It had the advantage of being able to go whereever it liked, while we had to
stay on the roads. Birding would be a lot easier if birdwatchers could fly.

At Stallard Lake we had REDHEAD, and another PRAIRIE FALCON.

In Ellensburg and on the Plateau we had nice flocks of HORNED LARKS, but we
could not find a Snow Bunting with them.

It was a nice day birding, even though we struck out on our goal species. Al
had two lifers and Ryan one, so that was good. We had around 55 species for
the day.

The way back was not so great though. We took Stevens Pass, and it was snowing
like the dickens on the way up the pass -- HUGE snowflakes, and maybe 3 or 4
inches of snow on the road. On the way down the west side, just when it looked
like we were past the worst of it, I touched the brakes, skidded, recovered,
skidded, downshifted, and managed to spin the 4x4 Ford Explorer 270 degrees,
swiping the side of a parked Saab in the process. Ouch! Luckily nobody was
hurt, and my WIFE'S truck only has two small dings, so that she's almost
forgiven me. The Saab wasn't so lucky :( Not the best end to the trip, but
perhaps fitting for a trip planned for the 13th...

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== hummer at isomedia.com