Hello all,

We left saturday morning and headed for Mamette Lake, BC to see the
Whooper Swans. 224 miles and 5 1/2 hours later we arrived to see them
on the far side of the lake. Not too good a look. Suddenly they lifted
off and flew to the most southerly end of the lake and then headed
north along the east shore and disappeared around a hill. We all
(Randy Hill arrived 20 minutes before us) got in our cars and headed
north and found the swans closer to "our" side of the lake. We got
some real nice looks and a few distant photos.

Next destination......Bow, WA for the Eurasian Kestrel.

We headed south on the Fraser Canyon Road, (about 1 hour longer than
the toll way) and it was getting dark by the time we arrived at the
town of Hope. We stayed in a nice motel and it was only $30.00 US
funds. We had dinner at "Kibo's", a small Japanese restaurant (seating
capacity..14) which is next to the "Red Roof Inn" motel. The food was
absolutely delicious!!

A couple other things we liked about Canada......the speed limit is
110 and the gas is only 59 cents. ;-)

We arrived at Bow, WA about 11.00am Sunday and found birders
everywhere, but no kestrel. After checking several places, we left
about 12:45 pm and headed for Point No Point to hunt for the Blue-Gray
Gnatcatcher.

The fog was very thick and the Edmonds ferry was behind schedule.
Arrived Point No Point around 3:00 pm (very thick fog) no chance of
seeing anything offshore. We headed off to the right of the lighthouse
along the wild rose bushes until we were almost down where the woods
and the hillside begin. There is a huge bolder just off shore. We saw
several Black-capped Chickadees and a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets up to
this point and we were about to head back when there it (the BLUE-GRAY
GNATCHATCHER) was, dashing in and out of the brush, "gnatcatching".
What a wonderful bird! We observed it for about 15 minutes and headed
back to the car with BIG grins on our faces. :-))

Stayed overnight with some very special friends and had a leisurely
trip home today for a total of 946 miles, and more two lifers.
--

Jerry and Sandy Converse
Grand Coulee, WA
mailto:sanjer at televar.com

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

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