Over the weekend Marv Breece and I looked for a goose of a different
color: the Ross's Goose reported by Meredith Spencer. As you may
recall, the ROGO had been spotted in a field on Jack Well's Road in
Okanogan County amidst a flock of Canada Geese.

Our initial drive of the road proved fruitless, ROGO-wise, anyway. We
looked at CAGO flocks in both fields and on lakes/ponds, but no white
goose. Finally, as we were heading back to Seattle late Sunday
afternoon, I bumped into Dan Peterson, who said that the ROGO had been
spotted just above the dam at Bridgeport. Dan and a companion were
headed out that way to look for the goose and kindly allowed us to
follow him. Meredith Spencer, Michael Schroeder (the grouse god), and
others were there looking at the goose when we arrived.

The ROGO's almost-all-white appearance immediately distinguished it from
the CAGOs it was with. The goose is a juvenile, with some grayish
coloration on its head at the back of its neck. It also had a faint
gray line extending from its eye to the top of its beak. We could see
that its bill was colored gray and pink. The bird was a lifer for me,
and I marveled at the size difference between it and the Canadas, the
ROGO being much smaller and daintier in appearance. BTW, this may be
the first Douglas County sighting of a Ross's Goose. (Calling Ken
Knittle...)

During the weekend we also located the YELLOW-BILLED LOON (where it was
earlier reported, below the spillway at the Wanapum Dam near Vantage),
missed the Bridgeport Blue Jay, had a wonderful view (in silhouette as
it was getting dark) of a GREAT HORNED OWL that Marv tooted out near the
Bridgeport High School baseball field (behind the backstop, which is
reportedly a great spot for American Tree Sparrows, but alas, no AMTS
were to be found). The area we birded (parts of Grant, Douglas, and
Okanogan counties) was rich with raptors. Almost too numerous to count
were AMERICAN KESTRELS and RED-TAILED HAWKS. It appears that the
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS may be coming in, as we saw five or six. There were
also several MERLIN and a BALD EAGLE, and a fleeting glimpse of a BARN
OWL.

A MERLIN in Bridgeport gave us the opportunity to really study it. It
was on a telephone wire between Fairview and Columbia streets near a
residence marked "Pattersons." The bird appeared to be a juvenile Taiga
form, and was perched right near a tree branch with leaves that overhung
the wires. Maybe it thought it was hidden. I kid you not, it sat there
for well over five minutes, in plain sight! Beautiful bird. Its
spotting and streaking were easily distinguishable, and its overall
coloration was lighter than Sibley depicts, but not as light as the
Prairie form.

Oddly, sparrows were not responding to pishing and kept themselves
pretty much hidden both days. I'd hoped for American Tree and perhaps
Harris's, but few of any species revealed themselves, other than SONG
SPARROWS and DARK-EYED JUNCOS. WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS were singing
lustily.

We had many other birds, but unfortunately I'm not much of a lister so
didn't mark down every species in every location. Am vowing to change
my evil ways! In the meantime, if you'd like more detail, please e-mail
me privately and I'll try my best to get it to you.

Cheers,
Mary

Mary E. Klein
Seattle WA
bassclef at seanet.com