Bruce LaBar, Ryan Shaw, and I just got back from a whirlwind tour of
northcentral Washington. We could not find our first target bird, the
Black-and-white Warbler, but had a good time birding that spot and many
other areas during the day.

Saturday, 10 January 2004 (7:30am-4:30pm)
Douglas and Grant County - 62 species.
Overcast; freezing fog on plateau; light breeze.

Daroga State Park, Douglas Co (7:30-9:00)
Canvasback (30)
Redhead (6)
Ring-necked Duck (1000+)
Greater Scaup (20)
Common Goldeneye (12)
Ruddy Duck (45)
Common Loon (3)
Horned Grebe (25)
Northern Harrier (1)
Merlin (1 columbarius)
American Coot (2500)
Killdeer (3)
Mountain Chickadee (2)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (3)
Spotted Towhee (1)

Hwy 2 through the Waterville Plateau (9:00-10:30), much too foggy
Chukar (70+): several very large coveys in the road in one stretch.
Horned Lark (150)
Snow Bunting (15)

Northrup Cyn/Steamboat Rock, Grant Co (11:00-11:15)
Rough-legged Hawk (1)
Northern Shrike (2)
Black-capped Chickadee (4)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (6)

Grand Coulee Dam area, Grant Co (11:30am-12:00pm)
Hooded Merganser (2)
Ring-billed Gull (10)
Herring Gull (75)
Glaucous-winged Gull (1)
Canyon Wren (1)

Roads around Bagdad Jct, SE of Grand Coulee (12:20-2:00)
Gray Partridge (4)
Ring-necked Pheasant (20)
Golden Eagle (1ad.)
Horned Lark (300): approx. 2/3 appeared as the whitish, Arctic-breeding
race.
Slate-colored Junco (1)
Snow Bunting (65)
Porcupine (1)

Hwy 155 just N of Coulee City (2:45)
Gray Partridge (5)
Prairie Falcon (1)

Ephrata/Oasis Park (3:45)
Downy Woodpecker (1)
Brown Creeper (3)
Cedar Waxwing (25)

A couple of other miscellaneous notes: we had only three Rough-legged Hawks
during the day, but a total of seven Northern Shrikes and four Merlins.
Essentially all of the lakes in the area were 95% frozen over, even Soap
Lake. Ice fishing was taking place in the middle of Banks Lake.

Cheers and good birding
Charlie Wright
Sumner, WA
charlie at birdwright.com