Subject: E. Wash. Field Trip
Date: Feb 7 13:32:54 2000
From: Hughbirder at aol.com - Hughbirder at aol.com


Len Steiner led five other birders on the annual ELWAS (E. Lake WA AS) field
trip to eastern Wash. to see the winter birds. We headed out over Stevens
Pass on Sat. morning. Just east of the pass after rounding a curve we saw
30-40 Pine Siskin feeding in the middle of the highway. One was not fast
enough and hit the windshield, getting stuck under the wiper. We stopped and
retrieved the dead bird to be given to the Burke Museum later. Not an
auspicous start. It was a cool, cloudy day with occasional snow flurries. We
drove up the east side of the Columbia R. to Chelan Falls, Chelan, Pateros
and up the Methow R. to Winthrop. For the day we had 46 species. Highlights
included 7 raptor species, 15 waterfowl species including a number of REDHEAD
ducks, large flocks of CALIFORNIA QUAIL, one flock of CEDAR WAXWING in a
tree, but no Bohemian's, and 3 NO. SHRIKE. We stayed overnight at the Lake
Pateros Motor Inn, good accommodations and reasonable prices, at least in the
winter. Sunday was warmer, above freezing, but still cloudy. We continued up
to Brewster, the Bridgeport, hwy 17 and 172 to Mansfield and Withrow, then
Hwy 2 back to Hwy 17 at Banks Lake, then down to Soap L., Ephrata and back
home on I-90. We had another 14 species, including 2 more raptor species, for
a total of 60 species for the two days. Our raptor totals were:

Bald Eagle - 23 on Sat. and 2 on Sun.
Northern Harrier - 2 on Sat. and 5 on Sun.
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 on Sat.
Cooper's Hawk - 2 on Sat.
Red-tailed Hawk - 11 on Sat. and 17 on Sun.
Rough-legged Hawk - 1 on Sat. and 6 on Sun.
Golden Eagle - 1 on Sun.
American Kestrel - 1 on Sat. and 3 on Sun.
Prairie Falcon - 1 on Sun. - our last bird on the trip seen east of Ellensburg

On Sun. we also saw many large flocks of HORNED LARKS. We finally did see 5-6
SNOW BUNTINGS in one flock of Horned Larks between Atkins L. and Banks L. One
RING-NECKED PHEASANT that was flushed by the GOLDEN EAGLE. The GREAT
HORNED OWL was found in the grove of trees west of Mansfield and there were 5
TRUMPETER SWANS on Lenore Lake. We also saw a porcupine in a stand of trees
in a gully east of Mansfield. All in all it was a good trip for everyone,
with a few getting some life birds.


Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at aol.com