Hi all

just a quick note to thank everyone who sent suggestions for my recent trip.
i had good success finding birds and had a wonderful time. the state of wa
is quite beautiful and i can't wait to make another trek out east.

one story i wanted to pass on. before i left, i bought one of those little
red "bird callers" from the SAS nature shop. i thought it might help to
call in some of the little dickie birds. i pulled it out in the loup loup
campground to see if i could bring some of the little guys in. here i am
out in the middle of nowhere, all by myself, squeaking away with this little
jobbie. suddenly this beautiful, but i must admit initially startling,
barred owl came barrelling in right at me, intent on finding out what all
the racket was!!! the coolest part was the complete silence of her
flight, in spite of her size. she landed right out in front of me, not 20
feet away and just sat there checking me out. we had a bit of a stare-off,
and i was torn between watching her and following a sapsucker that flew by.
i eventually tore myself away and found the female williamson's sapsucker
that was the reason for my visit to the campground. what a great place. i
would highly recommend spending some time, just even to enjoy the sheer
beauty of the place.

i covered robinson canyon, part of the colockum, went across bluett pass
and up to lake chelan, over to alta lake and then through the methow valley
and back down through the colville indian reservation. i walked across
coulee dam, spent some time at dry falls to learn about the missoula floods,
then went on through the sun lakes, down to the potholes and then back west
via vantage, umtanum road/creek and wenas area. i came back on i-90 via
hyak and stampede pass.

total species for the trip was 113, with 3 new lifebirds. the camping was
wonderful and the solitude and stars renewing.
anyone wishing a full trip report, please contact me and i will email.

marissa j benavente
junebug at pol.net
seattle, wa