Hi Scott --

Congratulations on your recent trip to the Okanogan. Oh gosh. Back on the
24th you asked me for some advice. Sorry I didn't get around to the reply.
I meant to but it got put aside and lost in the deluge of general business
around here. Nonetheless, I think you did QUITE OKAY on your own! :-))
Actually, your account sounded like one of *my* midwinter trips up there.

I think late January to early March may be the best time to go up there for
peak of winter birdlife. I don't know if you got up along some of those
roads looping around between Chesaw and Molson, but those can be quite good.
Rumor has it that the Havillah Great Gray Owl didn't nest there last year and
hasn't been seen there for a year or two. However, a pair did nest somewhere
around Bonaparte Lake last year and I remember Andy Stepniewski telling me
about seeing or hearing owls calling there some years ago. Those roads
between Havillah and Chesaw, the open country portions of the loop from
Chesaw and Molson, and Toroda Creek Road just north of Wauconda are all
traditional good areas for midwinter Snow Buntings and Rosy Finches.

I still have yet to explore the Cameron Lake Loop Road but over the years
have heard some intriguing reports from that area. So someday I'll get there
but probably not this winter. I'm just too busy right now and haven't really
been anywhere since the Y2K #001 Chelan Northern Hawk Owl escapade. I kind
of just hung up my binoculars after that one and decided to quit while I was
ahead :-)) --Richard

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Richard Rowlett (Pterodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA, USA

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what
nobody has thought" --Albert Szent-Gyorgi (1893-1986).
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