sanjer at televar.com wrote:

> Sandy and I decided that this weekend was the one to find a
> Common Poorwill. We had heard that Slack Canyon (DeLorme pages
> 84&68, C,1 being the starting point).
> was a good spot to find them, so off we went.

> Our starting point into the canyon was H road or Stotts road off
> hwy. 2. About 6 miles down the road there is a sign stating
> that the road ends 4.5 miles further south. We found out that it
> does and it doesn't, depending on your definition of "road"
>
> This is a beautiful canyon and quit unexpected after the flat
> farmland along the highway. Douglas creek runs through it and
> the road crosses it several times. The birds seem to like the
> road crossings to get a drink. We decided to camp in
> an area where a couple other families were fixing dinner. We
> heard several people
> down at the creek and after a few minutes they came out of the
> brush with a plastic shopping bag full of Crawdads! They took
> them to their campsite and had them as part of their
> dinner--sure wish they would have invited us over--them Crawdads
> is really GOOD. :-) These people came in from the south end and
> told us we could 'probably' make it out that way. After
> finishing dinner they left.
>
> In the immediate area around our camp site we noticed that there
> were several empty
> shotgun shells. We started looking around and sadly found some
> birds that had been
> shot several days earlier. They were: one Western Wood Peewee,
> one Eastern
> Kingbird, and two Common Nighthawks. I would like to make the
> person eat them,
> feathers and all.
>
> Now for the live birds in the Canyon: EASTERN and WESTERN
> KINGBIRDS, WESTERN WOOD PEEWEE, YELLOW BREASTED CHAT,
> BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, CEDAR WAXWING,
> ROCK WREN, GOLDFINCHES Lots of COMMON NIGHTHAWKS and several
> COMMON POORWILLS (lifer)
>
> After dinner we heard gun shots (not a shotgun) north of us and
> decided that it was
> time to leave and headed south where we could "probably" make it
> out. It was about
> 9:15 pm. On the way out is when we saw the Common Poorwills.
> There are about 4
> more creek crossings and the last one is the worst! As we were
> approaching the last
> crossing it was so steep that the truck was sliding, even with
> the brakes full on. We
> could hear everything in the camper sliding
> forward--bang--grind--skrunch! Yaaa!
> We made it! :) The next mile was really interesting. The road
> was sorta narrow and
> Dropped off 300 to 400 feet straight down in places. Awesome
> scenery, as well as
> we could see. Would we do it again? Not with a 2 wheel drive 3/4
> ton pickup with a
> camper on it.
>
> Jerry and Sandy Converse
> Grand Coulee, WA
>
> http://members.tripod.com/nature_scenic_photos/
>
> Never be afraid to try something new.
> Remember, amateurs built the Ark and
> Professionals built the Titanic.

--

Jerry and Sandy Converse
Grand Coulee, WA

http://members.tripod.com/nature_scenic_photos/

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember, amateurs built the Ark and
Professionals built the Titanic.