Dear Tweeters,

A four-day camping trip with my son to Okanogan and Ferry Counties gave me a chance to see some birds (July16 - 20).

I cannot remember the Tweeter who mentioned Soap Lake in Okanogan--was it Wayne Weber? Anyway, thanks! We saw a big covey of Chukar there, and a pair of Avocets with two young, as well as a pair of Wilson's Phalarope with young. Soap Lake is a wonderful, beautiful place, with nobody around! I hope the road gets some more washboards in it, to keep it pristine.

There was a juvenile Goldeneye on Soap Lake, a long way off. Later in the trip, there were two similar birds on Empire Lake north of Repbublic in Ferry County. All of them had all-dark bills, from what I could tell in the short time I had to view them (the Soap Lake bird being far off and swimming away, the Empire Lake ones retiring quickly to the reeds). There were no adults that I could see.

QUESTION NUMBER ONE: They would not be Common Goldeneyes, would they? I would have expected Barrow's, but the dark bills confused me, not having seen young Barrow's in a long time.

On to the second item. Near Pearrygin Lake State Park, at dusk, we saw three Asio owls. They looked pretty dark. Unfortunately, I had no flashlight with me, so I could not get good looks, but they were flying together, right over our heads. Habitat was hilly and dry, with the birds flying mainly by a small copse of trees by a little creek, with sorties out over the shrubby and grassy areas. I figure they almost had to be Long-eared Owls, but I guess there could be Short-eared up there too. None of the birds made a sound. No, they were not Great Horned Owls! I did hear a pair of GHOW the following morning, but these three owls were too small, and they had the Asio flight silhouette.

QUESTION NUMBER TWO: Which Asio is more likely there?





Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com


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