Hi Everyone--

I went to Wenatchee Confluence State Park in Wenatchee on Saturday 8/17 to check out the report of a Little Gull. It wasn't there, but I did see 100+ Common Mergansers and 9 Common Terns. From here, I drove north along US 97 to Okanogan. Smoke from the Lake Chelan fire is pungent in spots. I spent the night at Omak Lake enjoying the northern lights and the meteors, then at first light Sunday, started birding Cameron Lake Road from north to south. At Cook Lake (Delorme 100 B4), I heard a White-headed Woodpecker from somewhere in the Ponderosa Pines across the road, saw a family of Common Goldeneyes in the lake, and found 5 Bank Swallows in a mixed flock. At Duley Lake (Delorme 100 C4/5, right on the binding), I saw the following:

50 Canada Goose
20 Ring-necked Duck
20 Lesser Scaup
1 Bufflehead
100 Ruddy Duck
13 Sandhill Crane
1 Semipalmated Plover
8 Killdeer
3 Black-necked Stilt
10 Lesser Yellowlegs
1 Spotted Sandpiper
4 Least Sandpiper
21 Baird's Sandpiper
3 Pectoral Sandpiper
1 Wilson's Phalarope

A Sage Thrasher was sitting up on a fence a mile or so west of the lake along the road. Once I got back to US 97 at Monse, I drove south to Pateros and west on SR 153. At milepost 16.6, just south of Gold Creek Loop Road between Methow and Carlton, a Lewis's Woodpecker was working a utility pole. I watched it in the scope for a while, then went west to Winthrop and north to Okanogan NF and FR 39. At Roger Lake, the Three-toed Woodpecker nest is no longer active, but I heard two birds in the general area. Several Gray Jays were eating tiny berries just a few feet from me. There were two adult Spotted Frogs and numerous unidentified odonates at the lake itself. The speyeria sp. that I've been seeing all over was here, too, and after getting some pretty close looks, I think they're Mormon Frittilary. I drove north on FR 39 hoping to see a grouse in the road, but it was not to be. I got to FR 0600, a snowmobile path a bit north of Boulder Creek, and decided to walk in a ways. I ran into a large flock of juncos that had a Nashville Warbler with them, I saw Hairy and Three-toed Woodpecker (total of 5 for the day), more Gray Jays, and some kinglet flocks. A Columbian Ground Squirrel was a surprise; this is apparently the western end of its range. The Snowshoe Hare that I had seen earlier in the year on FR 37 in the Ponderosa Pine belt met its end there. I think people go out of their way to hit the wildlife. For the weekend, 89 species of birds. It's starting to look a lot like fall.

Mark Miller
Vancouver, WA
snowyowl98683 at msn.com