Friday night a group of Spokane birders went up to Pass Creek Pass in the
extreme northeast corner of Washington. The pass is between Sullivan Lake
and Priest Lake, Idaho, at an elevation of 5400 feet. We hiked south almost
three miles toward Grassy Top Mt and looked for owls on the way back. We
encountered three BOREAL OWLS, and saw two of them. One was seen at very
close range in bright light for a very short time before gliding off, and
another was seen in silhouette as it flew around us. The air was clear and
the moon was bright, but it wasn't as cold as expected. The temperature on
the mountainside was 36 degrees at midnight.

Late Saturday morning a couple of us hiked north from the pass on the
Shedroof Divide Trail. About a half mile into the hike we were shedding
clothing when we noticed a Steller's Jay raising a racket about a hundred
yards away. It was near the top of a snag and just above it at the tip was a
grayish bird. It looked a little plump for the usual suspects. It was a
HAWK OWL. After studying it for about ten minutes the owl lifted itself into
the air and floated off directly away from us, with a few languid wing beats.
It seemed an uncharacteristic flight style for this species, and we
speculated about whether it was actively migrating or not. The habitat we
saw it in seemed pretty good, maybe a hundred acres of burned out forest
leaving numerous large snags. We didn't see this owl again despite cursory
searches the next morning, but make no claims about whether the bird was
moving through the area or not.

This was the only raptor seen on the hike despite what appears to be a
classic hawkwatch ridge running for miles to the north. Saturday afternoon
an adult GOSHAWK flew over a larger group of birders at the pass who were
preparing to go owling. This group also hiked south from the pass and owled
on the way back. The first BOREAL OWL called right next to us before any
tape was played, but we never saw it. Over the course of the night we
encountered at least four BOREAL OWLS, with another two heard by a couple of
birders at a distance. But we didn't get a look at any of them, despite
continued good weather and moonlight.

Sunday morning there were a lot of birds moving through the pass. Most were
Pine Siskins, probably several hundred in a few hours. Several of us hiked
north again. On the north face of Round Top one BOREAL CHICKADEE gave us
great looks. We saw one Sharp-shinned Hawk, and one Cooper's Hawk moving
through. Both appeared to be adults. It was a beautiful day and weekend to
be in the high country.

Mark Houston
Spokane