I left home around 1:30am Sat. morning right after I got home from work and
picked Dan Stephens up in Wenatchee then headed for Mark Houston's in
Spokane. The weather forecast had called for wind so we decided to head
into Pend Oreille Co. to bird. It was a good choice. At Calispell Lake the
water was only partly covered with ice and both swan species were resting on
the ice along with lots of ducks and geese. This lake is owned by a private
gun club, but is always a great place to find birds. Besides waterfowl
there were Wild Turkeys, Northern Shrike, Pileated Woodpecker, and Red
Crossbills around the edge of the lake. North of Usk on the east side of
the river we found a Pygmy Owl in the top of an apple tree and 60+ Bohemian
Waxwings flycatching invisible insects. Surprises misses were no redpolls,
Rough-legged Hawks, and no Herring Gulls. Late afternoon we were checking
out Newman Lake in Spokane Co. when we happened on another flock of Wild
Turkeys which aren't always easy to find in that Co. After dark we headed
up Mt. Spokane for some owling. There was too much traffic from skiers and
snowmobilers and the Barred Owl was not in the mood to answer the tape.

Sunday morning early Dan and I left from Spokane and headed to Grande Coulee
to help on the CBC. We had lots of Robins, a few Varied Thrush, one Hermit
Thrush eating Russian Olives. There were lots of Red-breasted Nuthatches in
Northrup Canyon along with both Kinglets and a Brown Creeper. Four
Townsend's Solitaires were sitting on some of the tree tops also. Some of
our highlights were 1 C. Redpoll, 2 Lincoln's Sparrows, 3 American Tree
Sparrows and 1 Eared Grebe. Jerry and Sandy provided Dan and I food and a
place to sleep and early Monday morning all four of us were driving to Monse
which is in southern Okanogan Co. to try and find 3 Harris' Sparrows. After
about an hour we were fortunate to find one since the House Sparrows were
pigs at the feeder. Harris' Sparrows are tougher in the northern parts of
eastern Washington than they are around Walla Walla. Dan and I headed home
since I had to work Monday night. Steven's Pass was a piece of cake both
directions which I was glad for. We expected more in the way of redpolls,
but birding that's birding. Another great trip!

Ken Knittle, Gold Bar, WA
xenops at msn.com