Hello Tweets,

My mother and I enjoyed another lovely weekend birding in northcentral WA,specifically on portions of the Waterville Plateau and the Bridgeport area of Douglas Co. We encountered a total of 86 species,although weather conditions were fairly minimal with increasing rain showers yesterday(February 15th)for the latter portion of the day on the Waterville Plateau,but overall conditions were good and improving today until we returned back to western WA with rain. We managed to run into several other birders yesterday on the Waterville Plateau,specifically along Hwy.2 near Atkins Lake which was good as we exchanged our sightings and information. Our main highlight of several was 15 male SAGE GROUSE near the Leahy Junction in Douglas County that we only observed yesterday as indicated in Randy Hill's Tweeters and Inland NW postings. We initially located 3 adult males upon searching near an area that we observed up to 5 birds last weekend,but with further searching revealed up to a total of 15 birds,of which we managed to obtain photographs fairly close to the road away from our vehicle. This was our first personal best observations as far as closeness to this species that we have encountered of the many Sage Grouse sightings that we have for WA,so this observation was that much more special. We observed all the males foraging in a "broken" Sage area for about 3o minutes until they all gathered into a flock together,then were observed in a tight gathering from several Sage/rocky outcroping "islands" within a open field away from larger,denser stands of Sage. We kept our distance to the birds,as we left them yesterday afternoon until Randy Hill observed 5 birds during his visit to the location. We returnbed to the location this afternoon,but we were unable to locate any Sage Grouse although conditions were quite windy during our visit. We hope this location may remain to host a stable Sage Grouse population for years to come.

Our other highlight of the trip was our visit to an area below the Fort Okanogan Interpretive Center(accessed from Hwy.17 in Okanogan Co.)this morning between 9am-10:45am,which produced a very good assortment of species and highlights,specifically a good assortment of sparrows in weedy areas at the northend of Washburn Island. This area is accessed off of Hwy.17 from a gravel/dirt road immediately west of the entrance to the Fort Okanogan Interpretive Center,which leads you through a private orchard then eventually the road ends at a metal gate along the Okanogan River oxbow. You can park your vehicle at the gate and proceed on foot across a gravel road south onto Washburn Island. Very large numbers of waterfowl were noted at this location from the parking area,including very large numbers and rafts of Am.Coots containing approxiametly 1000 birds and 200+ Canvasback among the waterfowl highlights. A single Prairie Falcon,being one of 4 we observed on our two day trip was noted at the base of Washburn Island perched atop a telephone pole). Our main highlight however was the large numbers of sparrows bordering the Okanogan River immediately west of the gravel road in large bramble and vegetation areas,of which from the 135+ White-crowned Sparrows that were noted we located up to 2 HARRIS' SPARROWS, 1 adult WHITE-THROATED SPARROW(white-striped form),1 "Sooty"Fox Sparrow,and up to 4 Lincoln's Sparrows. The entire sparrow flock was observed for 40 minutes,as the flock activity began to decrease just before we left the location. A single SWAMP SPARROW was observed on the east side of the gravel road at the extreme northend of Washburn Island amongst a 4 Song Sparrows in a large wet vegetation area,but this individual was never heard. A single Ruby-crowned Kinglet was also observed in Russian Olive trees and other vegetation in the same vicinity.This general area has been quite productive in past visits for us at other times during the year and should be visited by other birders on their way to other nearby birding locations,such as Cameron Lake Road and may be most productive in migration.

Overall we had a fairly good weekend for raptors,including up to 15 Rough-legged Hawks noted from several locations on the Waterville Plateau between the Leahy area to Atkins Lake with our last Rough-legged Hawk of the trip noted tday on our way home along I-90 east of Kittitas in Kittitas Co. Our raptor highlight of the trip was an adult gray-morph GYRFALCON observed yesterday afternoon between 12pm-12:35pm at the northend of Atkins Lake(which is now a large snow-covered field). The bird was first observed being mobbed by an adult male Northern Harrier atop a rock outcroping,as we walked a portion of the primitive road that travels through Atkins Lake obtaining closer views of the bird at a distance. We were later joined by Randy Hill and his wife who also observed the bird in their spotting scope,until the bird flew off to the west passing a homestead along Heritage Rd. west of Atkins Lake and was not observed again. We returned to the location this afternoon after driving the entire length of Heritage(Woods)Rd. between S.R.172 and Hwy.2,but were unable to relocate the Gyrfalcon,but located a single flying Prairie Falcon. Other raptor highlights of the trip included:

Golden Eagle
1 along S.R.970 near Hwy.97 east of Teanaway in Kittitas Co. on the 15th
1 along Hwy.2 east of Orondo on the 15th
1 foraging on a roadkill Mule Deer along with Black-billed Magpies and Common Ravens along Bridgeport Hill Rd. on the 15th
1 along Hwy.17 south of Bridgeport on the 15th
1 along S.R.173 north of Bridgeport on the 16th
1 along Hwy.17 east of Chief Joseph Dam on the 16th
2 west of Leahy Junction on the 16th(with one bird observed flying low over our heads at close range)

Prairie Falcon
2 west of Leahy Junction on the 15th(with one bird noted at the same location on the 16th)
1 near Fort Okanogan State Park on the 16th
1 near Atkins Lake on the 16th

Merlin
1 at Wenatchee on the 15th
1 along Hwy.97/2 near Rock Island State Park on the 15th
1 at Bridgeport on the 16th

Waterfowl numbers were very scattered and localized from several areas along the Columbia River,mainly from the general Brewster-Bridgeport area and alos near Orondo on the 15th,but overall concentrations are seem less notable than in past years at visited locations. Highest concentrations remain of Am.Coots followed by Redhead,Canvasback and other waterfowl species that were noted.

Our visit to the Waterville Plateau in the Atkins Lake area produced far less numbers of Snow Buntings that last weekend with our largest flock of 3 seperate flocks that contained 800+ birds for a total of 1,100+ birds that were noted yesterday,but numbers of Horned Larks were still notable including good numbers mixed with small numbers of Lapland Longspurs noted along Hwy.2 east of Atkins Lake and west of the Leahy Junction both days.

A list of other highlights that we observed included the following:

Pacific Loon
1 along the Columbia River observed along Cranes Rd. near Brewster observed both days and at the same location on the 9th of February

Red-necked Grebe
4 along Hwy.97/2 on the Columbia River at MP 135.5 near Longview Rd. south of Orondo(also present on the 8th of February)

Eared Grebe
1 along the Columbia River at Pateros,Okanogan Co.(OK)amongst both Pied-billed and Horned Grebes on the 15th

Am.White Pelican
1 lingering bird observed both days from Bridgeport Bar along Grange Rd. on the 15th and from the Fort Okangan area on the 16th

Double-crested Cormorant
1 at Bridgeport Bar(accessed from Grange Rd.)on the 16th

Tundra Swan(last species of the trip)
18 along I-90 between Ellensburg and Thorp in Kittitas Co. on the 16th

"BLACK"BRANT
1 adult along the Columbia River along Hwy.97/2 at MP 135.5(south of Orondo in Douglas Co.)amongst large numbers of waterfowl,in which the bird was later flushed by two nearby Bald Eagles and latter observed on the Chelan Co. side of the Columbia River on the 15th. This is most likely the same individual that was observed earlier in the fall/winter at Confluence SP at Wenatchee observed by Dave Beaudette and other birders and appears to be wandering along the Columbia River.

Long-tailed Duck(Oldsquaw)
1 pair observed along the Columbia River at Bridgeport Bar(accessed from Grange Rd.) on the 15th,presumably at the same location as previously reported by Dave Beaudette on the 11th of February

Red-breasted Merganser
3 observed at the south end of Banks Lake along Dry Falls Dam(west of Coulee City)along Hwy.2 on the 16th

Gray Partridge
8 west of Leahy Junction on the 15th

Killdeer
2 at Bridgeport Bar on he 16th

Glaucous-winged Gull
1 adult along the Columbia River north of Chief Joseph Dam near Bridgeport on the 16th

Great Horned Owl
2 at Bridgeport State Park on the 16th

Barn Swallow
2 foraging along the Columbia River at Bridgeport Bar on the 15th

Mountain Chickadee
2 at Bridgeport on the 16th

Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 near Fort Okanogan SP on the 16th
1 at Bridgeport Bar near Bridgeport on the 16th

Townsend's Solitaire
1 at Bridgeport Bar near Bridgeport on the 16th

Hermit Thrush
2 heard calling along Longview Rd. in dense Russia Olive trees with several nearby Varied Thrushes(south of Orondo)on the 15th

Bohemian Waxwing
150 at Bridgeport SP on the 16th
75+ with 28 Cedar Waxwings at Bridgeport Bar near Bridgeport(accessed from the west end of Grange Rd. off of S.R.173)

Northern Shrike
1 west of Leahy Junction on the 15th
1 along Bridgeport Hill RD. on the 15th
1 along lower Central Ferry Canyon Rd. on the 15th
1 along Hwy.17 south of Bridgeport on the 16th
1 along Hwy.17 north of Bridgeport,OK

Am.Tree Sparrow
12 at Bridgeport Bar along Grange Rd. on the 15th
6 along Heritage(Woods)Rd. south of S.R.172 on the 16th

Lapland Longspur
8 along Hwy.2 east of Atkins Lake on the 15th(with 4 birds observed at the same location on the 16th)
7 birds observed west of Leahy Junction on the 16th


Good birding,

Ruth and Pattrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net

















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