Hey Tweeters & Inland Birders,
I birded January 25-27th with Fred Boesche and Scott Downes in
Northeast/Northcentral Washington. We had good to very good weather
conditions the entire trip, and the only real weather problems we ran into
(besides, obviously, very cold temps), was west of the mountains. Our first
stop in the morning was in S. Cle Elum, where, after a while of cruising the
roads, we located 12 PINE GROSBEAKS, mainly females and imm. males with at
least 2 nice males. They fed not 10 feet away in Mountain Ash trees loaded
with berries, and for the most part completely ignored us. The tree they were
in was at Madison & S. Cle Elum Roads. Also in S. Cle Elum were 2 TOWNSEND'S
SOLITAIRES at the S end of Lincoln Street. We then drove up quickly to Cle
Elum where we located 28 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS in a Noble Fir.
Continuing east, we picked up Scott in Ellensburg and stopped at the
Ellensburg Airport, where we found just about nothing. At Vantage, however,
we viewed a PACIFIC LOON and 4 LONG-TAILED DUCKS from the Wanapum boatlaunch.
We then drove just about straight to Davenport in Lincoln County, where we
had a PRAIRIE FALCON on Morrison Road and a female/imm. male SNOWY OWL on a
telephone pole along the Sunset Highway N of Highway 2 at sunset.
Spent the night in Kettle Falls and started up Sherman Pass in Ferry County
Saturday morning. There was a notable dearth of birds up there. PINE
GROSBEAKS were noted feeding in the road and alongside it at a few spots,
around 25 total. Also some PYGMY NUTHATCHES, and that's about it.
Headed west to Oroville-Toroda Creek Road in Okanogan County and still
noted hardly any birds. This was true until we we reached Chesaw, where on
the road to Bulster we had 15 COMMON REDPOLLS. In the town of Chesaw, on the
slope behind the Chesaw Store, he had a flock of 75 or 80 REDPOLLS feeding in
rabbitbrush and mullen. After scoping the flock for some time, we found what
we are confident is a female HOARY REDPOLL. Scott has all ready sent in
details, but I can't overemphasize the total lack of streaking on the belly,
and very few streaks on the flanks. This bird also had a noticably smaller
bill and more "pushed in" look to the face, even more so than the Electric
City bird I'd say. Also the very large white rump is apparent when it spreads
its wings, but this bird can be tricky to pick out of the Commons when
they're foraging actively, especially at a distance.
We attempted owling for several hours in 15 degrees at the Havillah
SnoPark, but came up empty handed other than (only) 3 GREAT HORNED OWLS along
Tonasket-Havillah Road. Spent the night in Omak and headed to Twisp this
morning. In the Horseshoe Trailer Park in Twisp, we did not see the warbler
but did see:
2 Sharp-shinned Hawks (one eating a Bohemian Waxwing)
1 Townsend's Solitaire
1 WESTERN BLUEBIRD
175 Bohemian Waxwings
50 Pine Siskins
3 Common Redpolls

We then headed back east on Highway 20, and a few miles east of Twisp at MM
208, a GYRFALCON flew over the road. Along highway 20, near Okanogan, a flock
of approx. 100 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS were in a cottonwood. We then drove Cameron
Lake Rd., where we found 3 NORTHERN SHRIKES and scattered HORNED LARKS, but
nothing really notable.
Our next stop was Bridgeport State Park. We surprisingly didn't get any
owls in the trees, but there were:
15 Common Goldeneye
1 Barrow's Goldeneye
2 Varied Thrush
chickadees, kinglets, and nuthatches.

After that we birded Bridgeport Hill Road, but could not find any
Sharp-tailed Grouse. On the Waterville Plateau, HORNED LARKS were in
relatively short supply, and consequentially we saw no Snow Buntings.
Somewhere near Douglas in a very large flock of House Finches, were 5-10
COMMON REDPOLLS. Also on the plateau were:
10 Rough-legged Hawks
1 PRAIRIE FALCON

A stop at the Wenatchee Confluence State Park area at sunset was very cold,
windy, and unproductive. There were good numbers WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW in the
Horan Wildlife Area, and with them was a single GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW. Also
at least a couple AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS were around.

That's all for now. Good birding.

Charlie Wright, 13
Birdking88 at aol.com
Sumner, WA