Hi Everyone--

I did a circuit around Okanogan County (wandering into western Ferry County) this weekend hoping to stir up some of the fine birds found during the WOS convention. Friday evening, I drove over the North Cascades Highway, stopping at the Washington Pass overlook. Although the overlook is still snowed in, you can walk along the access road. Varied and Hermit Thrushes are common and the two singing in chorus provide pretty nice ambience. A male White-winged Crossbill sat up and sang briefly, and two Black Swifts flew over. I stopped again 1/4 mile farther on where two people with binoculars were staring intently at Gardner Peak. They told me they were thinking of climbing it, and as we were chatting, two more (or possibly the same two) Black Swifts flew over at very close range. At Rock Creek Campground, Ryan's campsite was occupied by a family of jabberwockies, and owls amounted to one distant Flammulated, but the Veeries and Swainson's Thrushes were present and singing. Saturday morning, I drove the length of Cameron Lake Road from north to south. No Sharp-tailed Grouse, but at least 5 Sage Thrashers and 5 Brewer's Sparrows were interesting, and there is much waterfowl on the lakes (6 Blue-winged Teal, 0 Cinnamon Teal, what's going on here?). From there, I drove over to Kipling Road to look at flycatchers. A "Traill's" was perched on a willow snag across from the white mobile home 0.3 miles south of Teas Road. It was bright-plumaged, but had no eye ring, was giving both "rrrrrrip" and "fitz-bew" songs, and reacted to a recording of Willow, but not to one of Alder. In front of the green mobile home 0.1 miles south of Teas Road (the north end of the same thicket), another "Traill's," this one with a bold yellowish eye ring, responded somewhat to a recording of Alder, but did not sing. It was interacting with Willows inside the thickets, and although I heard both "whit" and a sharper call, I could not associate the call with the bird. After 5 hours, birds were quieting down and the IDs weren't getting any clearer, so I continued on east toward Chesaw. I stopped at a thicket on Mary Ann Creek at the corner of Chesaw Road and Nealey Road (Delorme 115 A8, 1 1/2 miles west of Chesaw; they have the road names all wrong up here, unfortunately), and was shocked to hear an apparent Alder song! I would transcribe this one as "vrrrEo," all slurred together, the "E" being relatively high-pitched and emphatic, the "o" a falling, fading sound (it's subtle). If you have the tapes for "Birds of Canada," it's like song example 3 except that the beginning didn't have any "growling" sound. Playing song example 3 at it did not elicit any reaction, however. I found the bird giving the song on the right (west) side of Nealey Road, maybe 30 yards south of Chesaw Road, in a low branch of an alder just right of a small wooden bridge. It would be indistinguishable from a Willow by plumage, but gave this song and no other for at least 1/2 hour (2:30 to almost 3pm). I continued east to Beaver Lake, where there were 3 female and 13 downy young Hooded Mergansers (one of the young was almost eaten by a female Common Goldeneye), 3 Black Terns, and numerous empids, including a Least Flycatcher (very bright yellow lower mandible and contrasting wing covert and tertial edgings were visible in the scope). From here, I drove east to Toroda (one each of Black-chinned and Calliope Hummingbirds were about 3 miles east of the Ferry County line), back to Tonasket along the Kettle River, SR 21, and SR 20, and proceeded into the mountains by way of Fish Lake.. A Common Poorwill was flycatching on Sinlahekin Road about 1/4 mile south of Fish Lake Road. I had planned to take FR 3820 up to Tiffany Springs Campground, and got almost to FR 39 before the road became a quagmire and I had to turn around (you can get through it with 4WD and high clearance). I spent the night on FR 3820. Sunday morning I backtracked to Conconully and went back up via Winthrop and FR 37, and stopped briefly at Roger Lake before heading up Freezeout Ridge. On the Freezeout Trail, flocks of both species of crossbills flew over, and one Red even perched to sing. About a mile up, where the spruces start to thin out, a female Blue Grouse wandered onto the trail, its erstwhile suitor nowhere to be found. By noon, I was back at the trailhead, and went back to Roger Lake to do some photography. A Boreal Chickadee gave me great, close views at the lake shore, and a flock of 9 White-winged Crossbills flew over. PS, the mosquitoes are really thick here. I also walked the Bernhardt Mine trail, and saw a pair of Three-toed Woodpeckers. It was time to go home, so I drove back to Winthrop and over the North Cascades Highway, and stopped one last time at Washington Pass. The thrushes were still singing.

Mark Miller
Vancouver, WA
snowyowl98683 at msn.com