Subject: Chelan Ridge & The Okanogan
Date: Oct 11 08:25:33 2000
From: Lynn & Carol Schulz - linusq at worldnet.att.net


Hi Everybody:
Charlie Wright and I had a wonderful trip to N Central Eastern WA last week.
It was supposed to be a 4-5 day trip, but turned out to be longer (and
better). Charlie is home-schooled, and his folks foolishly let him go w/
me, in the interest of "education" I suppose. I wanted Charlie to go w/ me
because he is the true birder; I am just the driver. I knew I'd learn and
see a lot if he came along. Charlie also has some friends who told us a lot
about the Okanogan. And Charlie did learn some stuff
(like how to call a wrecker to tow a car off a mountain). He did see some
very
good birds on the trip, including some life birds.
I had read a great article about hawk watches in the U.S. in the latest
Birders Digest, so I decided to visit Chelan Ridge Hawk Watch. The public
may watch w/ observers on a high observation point on Cooper Mt. north of
Chelan. Charlie and I left early Mon Oct 2, and were traveling up the back
roads north of Chelan that afternoon. I had some confusing directions,
took a wrong turn and ended up on a 4wd road w/ my Taurus stn wagon. But it
was a beautiful day, and we watched a Golden Eagle fly by on the ridge
before heading down. On the way down, but still near the top, I must have
hit a rock. Luckily we stopped on the main forest road to birdwatch and
noticed a lot of oil
leaking out. By now it was late afternoon. We hadn't seen a single car.
Our cell phones didn't work up there. Eventually a couple of cars came up
the road
heading to the hawk watch. One of them took us to the top, where the group
was parked. It was much farther than I had understood from my directions.
The total milage was 25 miles from Chelan, 14 miles on dirt roads. We got
a ride down to Chelan to our motel, and called the wrecker. He towed the
car down to a garage that night.
The next morning the garage told me the transmission oil pan was ruined,
they were trying to find another, and it might take several days. I rented
a
car. We had birds to see! That afternoon, we headed north from our Chelan
motel to two good birding areas near Brewster: the delta of the Okanogan
River where it comes into the Columbia River, and Dooley Lake which is
northeast of Brewster in the high desert. On the way north, Charlie spotted
an early Herring Gull. At the delta we observed 3 male Canvas Backs, and 1
Redhead amongst the thousands of coots and hundreds of other ducks, and
waterbirds. There
were 15 Myrtle and Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warblers in the cottonwoods
leading to the water.
Then we headed north a short way on Highway 97, turning East at Monse on Lk.
Cameron Road. It is a main dirt road which heads up into the high desert
stubble fields/sagebrush country. We were at approx 2400 ft elev. seeing
American Pipit, Western Meadowlark, a hovering American Kestrel, and a
Prairie Falcon. Then Sandhill Cranes started flying overhead. It was
late afternoon, and they were flying in the sky and calling loudly. At the
point where Lk Cameron Rd turns north, there is a 1/2 mile long lake called
Dooley Lake. It has an abandoned building at one end of a picturesque mud
pond. What a great place. We watched Sandhill Cranes flying all around us,
some pretty close overhead. Eventually we counted 300. There were Canada
Geese and a few Greater White-fronted Geese. Charlie pointed out 2 Badgers
watching us near the road. There was 1 Snow Goose in w/ a flock of other
geese. We observed it pretty closely w/ our scopes. There was 1 Pectoral
Sandpiper. A Red-tailed Hawk flew nearby until dark.
As darkness fell, we stood near the old building. A Long-eared Owl called
from about 1/4 mile away. The Sandhills stopped flying, but some geese and
ducks continued to fly in to roost. There was the "skewww" sound of an owl.
Then there was a Coyote chorus all around us. It only lasted about 1
minute, but it was a thrill to hear.
The next morning we headed up to Winthrop in the rental car. I eventually
put 360 miles on it in two days. We headed up the road past Pearrygin Lake,
north of Winthrop. This turns to FR 5010, then FR 37. At about 19 miles
north of Winthrop, there is a turnoff to FR 39. We were heading on it to
Roger
Lake and Tiffany Mountain. The road travels thru high Boreal forest from
5500 to 6800 ft. in elev. We drove past Roger Lake, because there was no
sign, and ended up at Freezeout Pass, elev 6540. From there we hiked up to
Whistler Pass, less than 2 miles away at 7780 feet. It's above timber line.
At
Whistler Pass we observed 30 Gray-crowned Rosy Finches, 10 Mountain
Bluebirds, 3 Townsend's Solitaires, and several Golden-crowned Kinglets
which surprised us up that high. A Prairie Falcon slowly glided right over
our heads. We watched an imm Golden Eagle head south, and a light-colored
Merlin dashed by. But the best was down the trail, right back near the
road. We had a group of 3-Toed Woodpeckers right near us. The birds were
totally ignoring us. There was a male, female, and two imm 3-Toed
Woodpeckers. Later that day we saw another bright male, right near the
road. We kept watching for Boreal Chickadee as we traveled on FR 39.
Finally, in the afternoon, Charlie heard one. We stopped and got good views
of one. They were hard to find on this trip, so we were glad to get this
life bird. They look and sound like Chestnut-backed Chickadee.
The next morning I got my car back and we went back up to Tiffany Mt. We
stopped
at Roger Lake. On the beautiful trail, very near the road, in dense small
pines, at 2:30PM we were stopping to eat and a female Black-backed
Woodpecker dropped
in. This was a lifer for me. She ignored us and pecked away about 20 feet
from us. Wow! After this we went searching for Spruce Grouse and Boreal
Owl but we missed these.
The next morning we headed back up to Chelan Ridge. Now I knew the proper
way, and knew it took 1 hour to get up there from Chelan. We headed up on
Friday for a most eventful day. Many volunteers were up there helping w/
the counting and observing of migrating raptors. We checked in w/ the camp
host at the campsite at 5380 ft., and went up to Obs. This high rocky
outcrop is 3/4 mile up a narrow,
rocky path at 5560 ft elev.. But it was worth it. On the way up the path
were Western &
Mountain Bluebirds, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. From the observation point
(Obs.) Kent Woodruff, Richard, Charlie and others were pointing out the
incoming
migrating raptors. These included Sharp-shinned Hawk, Goshawk, Golden
Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, and Red-tailed Hawk. Surprisingly, Common Loons
travel over the ridge going to different lakes, and we saw two fly by while
we were there. After a while, we
heard that a Golden Eagle had been caught. We hurried down to the blind,
and saw
a fledgling Golden Eagle as it was photographed and observed. It was
about 3 feet high and looked huge to me. This was the first Golden Eagle to
be caught and banded
in two years up there. Later we all watched as the young Eagle flew away.
Very exciting.
At the blind, we watched a Merlin fly in very close.
Ed Diehl showed Charlie the mist nets and explained about capturing and
banding raptors for this scientific study of raptor migration. The
volunteers from FRG, Hawk Watch Int'l., and the Forest Service work on the
ridge from early Sept to mid Oct. They will be dismantling the site this
coming weekend. They will return again next fall.
The next day, Charlie & I packed up from our Chelan motel, and headed to
Central
Ferry Canyon, which is across the Columbia River bridge from Brewster. We
dressed in hunter orange, because the Pheasant hunters were up there. Up
the canyon in the bowl area, we flushed out a Sharp-tailed Grouse from the
sage brush. This was a life bird for us both. Then we headed to Winthrop
over the Loup
Loup pass, stopping at the campground at the top. Had an interesting hike,
but didn't see anything new. We had hoped to stay overnight in Winthrop,
but
there was no room in any of the motels, so I got to drive all the way home
over the North Cascades. I pulled over and took a nap on the way home on a
beautiful moonlight
night.
Here is our list for our 6-day trip.
------------------
Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Western Grebe
Dbl-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Gr Wht-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper?s Hawk
Northern Goshawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
Merlin
Prairie Falcon
Ring-necked Pheasant
Blue Grouse
Sharp-tailed Grouse
California Quail
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Pectoral Sandpiper
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Thayer?s Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Long-eared Owl
Hummingbird species
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Three-toed Woodpecker
Blk-backed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Shrike species
Gray Jay
Steller?s Jay
Clark?s Nutcracker
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Blk-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Boreal Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
Townsend?s Solitaire
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Shrike species
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon & Myrtle)
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Wht-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer?s Blackbird
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch
Cassin?s Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow
TOTAL - 95 species
--------------------------
If anyone wants detailed directions to these Chelan & Okanogan areas, email
me
off-list and I will send them to you.
Yours,
Carol Schulz
DesMoines
linusq at worldnet.att.net