Hi all,

Following is another post I did for the Cserve Reptile and Amphib
forum.

I spent this past Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in and around eastern
Washington, herping, birding, and otherwise wildlife viewing. In
addition to finding snakes, I was hoping for some decent owling. All
went well.
The first owl, a great horned, was seen at late dusk as it launched from
its perch in a large cottonwood and landed on a basalt cliff face. I got
out of my car to follow it, as another great horned appeared and landed
on a tall pole. I approached rather closely to this bird, and could watch
as two western kingbirds dive-bombed and scolded it. The owl didn't
seem too inconvenienced. As I continued to watch, two young striped
skunks emerged from a burrow and began foraging. A killdeer came
swooping in for a landing and, for some reason, began yelling at the
skunks. This was quite a show!
Back into the car to commence road-cruising. The first herp was a
large Great Basin spadefoot toad. Always a pleasure to encounter. A
second toad was found later in the evening. Snakes found were one
moderate sized northern Pacific rattlesnake and a small Great Basin
gophersnake. As I was observing the rattlesnake, I could hear a pack of
coyotes howling off in the distance. An additional two or three great
horned owls were also found that night.
Most of Monday was spent exploring parts of central Washington that
were unfamiliar to me. Four burrowing owls were seen in the morning
hours, perched on fence posts adjacent to their burrows. Most allowed
close approach. That night, six or seven burrowing owls, as well as quite
a few nighthawks, were found hunting near the roads. Two more rattlesnakes

and two more gophersnakes were also found. An exhausting search for barn
owls followed, but to no avail.
On Tuesday, I went in search of wandering gartersnakes and northern pygmy
owls. None of the former were seen, but one of the latter was heard at
fairly
close range. After hearing the owl's call, I continued my hike, trying my
best
to duplicate the vocalization. By the time I returned to the spot from
which
I had heard the owl, I had the call almost perfected. I began calling at
short
intervals, and although the owl never responded, I attracted a western
tanager,
two robins, two flickers, two or three flycatchers, and three or four of
some type of
warbler! They obviously knew there was a pygmy owl somewhere nearby!
Other birds of interest (at least to me) included many osprey, lots o'
red-tailed
hawks, kestrels (one of which had just caught a small rodent), Bullock's
oriole,
and ruddy duck, as well as others. The only other herp seen was a single
side-
blotched lizard.
Thanks for reading.

Steve Z
Renton