Subject: WOS Conference and more 6/12-17 (long)
Date: Jun 18 14:28:08 2002
From: Birdking88 at aol.com - Birdking88 at aol.com


Hello Tweeters, InlandBirders,
Got home last night from a 6-day trip with Carol Schulz to north
central/eastern Washington for the WOS conference. We also did quite a bit of
birding before and after the conference in eastern Washington. Our combined
total for the trip was 169 species in Kittitas, Chelan, and Okanogan
Counties. Here is our trip in as near to chronological order as I can
remember.

Wednesday, July 12:
Arrived at the Little Blue Heron spot along Ringer Loop south of
Ellensburg around mid-day. No luck on the heron, but I did hear a BEWICK'S
WREN about 1/2 mile south of the iris marsh near a trailhead which leads to
the river, currently a good Kittitas County bird. Also around were numbers of
very tame YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS, and the rest of the usuals. Next stop was
the White-winged Dove spot along Brickmill Road in Kittitas, which we drove
(unknowingly) right past on the morning the bird was found. Did not see the
bird during our stay from 2:00 to 3:30PM. In that area were just the usual,
common species.
After those two misses, we tried our luck camping in the Liberty area.
In the afternoon we had NORTHERN GOSHAWK, OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER, and more.
During the night I had a COMMON POORWILL fly past, but none were calling and
we didn't get any more. No Flammulated Owls at all, and no SPOTTED OWLS, that
is until a pair of them woke me up at 1:30AM. Night: Camped along FR 9712.

Thursday, July 13:
In the early morning at Liberty, a RUFFED GROUSE was drumming several
times. Nearly 100 passerines in the area were mobbing my pygmy-owl tooting up
on a ridge just after sunrise. I'd never had these kind of numbers of birds
come in to this, so apparently pygmy-owls are a serious hazard for birds
here. CASSIN'S VIREOS and TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS came down to below eye level
scolding me, normally found in treetops at this time of the year. Everything
seemed to respond to my calling, even a BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD which
hovered a few feet from my head as I was whistling. HERMIT THRUSHES were
about the most common bird here, though none were seen many were heard.
Along Cameron Lake Road we had EARED GREBES, BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, RUDDY
DUCKS, CHUKAR, WILSON'S PHALAROPES, a BLACK-NECKED STILT, GRASSHOPPER
SPARROWS, and a large BLACK BEAR. We then drove to Loup Loup CG. A pair of
WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKERS are nesting in the meadow on the edge of the CG. That
night we had no luck with owling, other than a pair of very noisy BARRED OWLS
that kept me up most of the night. At sunrise I saw the male flying back to
the meadow and the presumed nest with a squirrel in its talons. Night: Loup
Loup CG.

Friday, July 14:
We drove up Loup Loup Cyn Road to the Rock Creek CG. In the varied
riparian areas along Loup Loup Creek we heard many VEERYS and GRAY CATBIRDS,
and had an odd Traill's Flycatcher which I assume was a WILLOW giving an
abberant song. We then went up to the Moses Meadows to see if we could find
anything. We had relatively few birds there, and nothing unexpected. We later
joined the WOS conference for Rick Howie's speach on owling. After the talk,
Scott Downes, Ryan Shaw, and I started owling in the Loup Loup area. We
picked up Ryan Shaw at his campsite 1/4 mile south of Rock Creek CG. Finding
a NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL, 4 WESTERN SCREECH-OWLS, 2 COMMON POORWILLS, and 10
FLAMMULATED OWLS in the immediate area of his campsite at sunset was rather
serendipitous. Later in the night we had 3 BARRED OWLS and a NORTHERN
SAW-WHET OWL at Loup Loup CG, and a GREAT HORNED OWL along Buzzard Lake Road
for a grand total of 20 individual owls of 6 species in 3 stops. A fantastic
night of owling.

Saturday, July 15:
Scott Downes and I led a hiking field trip to Freezeout Ridge and
Whistler's Pass. A decapitated BLUE GROUSE was in the road on the way up FR
3820. Along FR 39 we had good looks at a THREE-TOED WOODPECKER and a pair of
PINE GROSBEAKS in the road. Along the Freezeout Ridge Trail we had a close
1st year male SPRUCE GROUSE displaying to a female BLUE GROUSE, a nice close
comparison which none of us had experienced before. Of course the Blue was
ignoring the Spruce for the most part. A nice WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL flew
overhead, calling. HORNED LARKS and AMERICAN PIPITS gave us good shows above
timberline. Of particular note were several vastly out of place species
including a MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER at about 7100ft elevation, a pair of CEDAR
WAXWINGS which flew over at 7500ft, and especially a VESPER SPARROW at over
7800ft! Terrific scenery of the Cascades in both Washington and British
Columbia added to the experience. On our way back down we had reasonably good
views of half a dozen BOREAL CHICKADEES. A good 5 mile round trip hike with
fabulous weather and good birds. Had 75 species for the trip, good for a
mainly high elevation trip.
That night, Scott Downes and I led an owling trip to Loup Loup where
we were rewarded by a *perched* FLAMMULATED OWL seen by all participants at
"Ryan's campsite" (read above) along Loup Loup Cyn Rd. In the course of the
night we also had the staked out NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL, WESTERN SCREECH-OWL, and
the pair of BARRED OWLS, as well as COMMON POORWILLS along Buzzard Lake Road.

Sunday, July 16:
Scott Downes and I chased the probable ALDER FLYCATCHER located the
day before by Patrick Sullivan along Kipling Road just north of Muskrat Lake.
It only took us a few minutes to locate the bird, singing and calling
constantly. We'll just have to wait and see what the committee has in store,
but to us there is no reason to believe that this is anything but an Alder
Flycatcher. There was also a pair of NORTHERN WATERTHRUSHES at that spot. We
birded the rest of the morning along Aeneas Valley Road, where we had a dozen
or so BOBOLINKS, an AMERICAN REDSTART, and other expected species.
That night I went owling for the 5th night in a row with several
people who were not able to do an owling trip during the conference. The
weather conditions weren't quite as favorable as the previous two nights, but
we did get a FLAMMULATED OWL perched for the second night in a row at the
same spot as before. We also had all of the other owls seen in the Loup Loup
area, but somehow missed the Barred Owls at Loup Loup that night.

Monday, July 17:
We headed for home, birding in a couple of spots on the way. Had a
CHUKAR and several other things along Lester Road east of Winthrop, and a
male BLUE GROUSE displaying on the road that leads to Pearygin Lake State
Park. In Winthrop were about a dozen BLACK SWIFTS, RED-EYED VIREOS, LAZULI
BUNTINGS, VEERYS, and other common ones. At Washington Pass were several
SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, two singing PINE GROSBEAKS (heard only), several FOX
SPARROWS, and two MOUNTAIN GOATS.

That's 6 days of birding and 5 nights of owling in a row! All for now,
good birding.

Charlie Wright
Birdking88 at aol.com
Sumner, WA