Hello Tweets,
Bruce LaBar, Tom Schooley, and myself birded parts of Eastern Washington on
Friday including participating in the Grand Coulee Christmas Bird Count. We
began our morning owling Northrup Canyon where we heard 3 species of Owls,
before meeting up with all the count participants at Grand Coulee. Our
party took the high plateau area southeast of the city of Grand Coulee. The
weather all day was great, being sunny with scattered clouds most of the
day, encountering fog in places on the plateau, with a slight wind on
occasion.
At Grand Coulee Dam, we counted 127 Gulls on the Douglas County side, 125 of
them being Herring Gulls, 1 Glaucous-winged Gull, and a very cool adult
Glaucous Gull!
On our way back, we stopped at Bridgeport Hill Road where we observed 7
Sharp-tailed Grouse feeding on waterbirch catkins, before they flew off over
the ridge. Gray Partridge seemed to be all over the place, encountering
them in 3 different counties with at least 100 birds seen all day by us.
I personally had a great time participating in the birdcount, and birding
our way back west. It was also great to put faces to many of the names I
have seen over the past few years on Tweeters!

Grant County
WESTERN SCREECH-OWL - 1 bird calling at Northrup Canyon
GREAT HORNED OWL - 3 birds calling at Northrup Canyon
NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL - 1 bird calling at Northrup Canyon
NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL - 1 bird tooting along the road which climbs up to the
plateau.
HERRING GULL - 125 at Grand Coulee Dam
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL - 1 bird on a log boom at Grand Coulee Dam.
GLAUCOUS GULL - 1 bird, adult, sitting on the water, bathing at times, at
Grand Coulee Dam.
SNOW BUNTING - 5, in with flocks of Horned Larks
GRAY PARTRIDGE - 36, separate groups near feedlots.
NORTHERN SHRIKE - 3 seperate birds at different locations within the count
area (Including a great view from the Converse's window while eating some
great soup and bread)!

Lincoln County
SNOW BUNTING - 2 birds encountered on the east side of road X NE within the
count circle.

Okanogan County
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL - 1 flying along the Okanogan County side of Grand
Coulee Dam, side opposite the lake.

Douglas County
PRAIRIE FALCON - Hwy 174, on a telephone pole heading west before Barker
Canyon Road.
GOLDEN EAGLE - 1 bird on Barker Canyon Road
SHARP-TAILED GROUSE - 7 birds feeding on Waterbirch catkins within the
Foster Creek drainage away from the road on Bridgeport Hill Road.
SNOW BUNTING - 150+ including one large flock east of Mansfield on the
Waterville Plateau.

Good Birding
Ryan Shaw - Lacey
rtshaw80 at home.com