Subject: [Tweeters] Wenatchee area birding and more
Date: Nov 8 21:16:32 2004
From: Rob McNair-Huff - rob at whiterabbits.com


Natalie and I are spending much of this week exploring and birding in
Eastern Washington, and today found us starting the day in Wenatchee and
then birding a few of our favorite sites to the north to the Canada
border. Although this isn't a hard-core birding trip - we're spending a
lot of time relaxing, taking photos and generally not rushing around like
crazy in search of one more bird species for the day - we managed to see
48 species between our start around 10 a.m. and nightfall around 4:30 p.m.

The main highlight came late in the day, as we watched a pine tree loaded
with chickadees in the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area along the rugged gravel
road north of Conconully. We hit the trifecta around 3:15 p.m. with
BLACK-CAPPED, CHESTNUT-BACKED and MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES all in the same
tree along with RED-BREASTED and WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES and five BROWN
CREEPERS. In the tree next to the pine a lone TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE stood
at attention at the top of the tree while CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS called in
the background.

Today was a good day to watch hawks, as we saw an adult COOPER'S HAWK
scare up six EVENING GROSBEAKS from the side of the Columbia River at
Walla Walla Point Park on our first stop, and then we watched a SHARP-
SHINNED HAWK dive at a collection of feeder birds at a residence near the
Wenatchee River at Confluence State Park. Later, as we walked the trails
at the Horan Nature Area, a female MERLIN scared the sparrows we were
watching near the radio towers portion of the trail into hiding. Add the
RED-TAILED HAWK balancing on the guy wires for the radio towers and the
pair of BALD EAGLES we saw as we drove into the park and we were off to a
good start for raptors.

We didn't see anything too unusual at any of the parks in Wenatchee. We
were a little surprised to see such a small number of ducks, but it is
still early in the season and the breezy conditions likely had ducks
huddling in the lee of the winds somewhere. We did note CACKLING GEESE
mixed in with the CANADA GEESE at both parks.

Duck numbers were also low along the Columbia River and at the mouth of
the Methow River at Pateros. We had nice looks at a trio of COMMON LOONS
on the Methow River - one adult and two immature - and there were a few
scaup and COMMON GOLDENEYE hanging around as well.

The only real surprise sight was seeing five TUNDRA SWANS and one
TRUMPETER SWAN in the Okanogan River west of the highway near Brewster.
There were three more swans in the Okanogan River farther north as we
drove up Highway 97, but we couldn't stop to ID the species.

A cattle drive along the road to Conconully added some real West flavor
to our late afternoon trip into the higher elevation forest and prairie
habitats in the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area. We waited in the car and
snapped a few photos as a hundred or so head of cattle wandered past on
the main road - OK, nearly the only road - into Conconully near the
Scotch Creek Wildlife Area.

The sun was only highlighting the mountain tops as we made our way north
along the beautiful Sinlahekin Valley toward the even tinier town of
Loomis. After having stunning views of a fourth-year BALD EAGLE in the
rugged canyon near Conconully, we were happy to watch two GOLDEN EAGLES
soar overhead and settle on a large pine snag along the western edge of
the valley north of Blue Lake as darkness was falling.

A final sighting of the day - a GREAT-HORNED OWL seen as we drove toward
Tonasket.

Happy birding!

--
Rob McNair-Huff ---------- Tacoma, WA
Author of Birding Washington (Falcon Publishing, 2004)
and Insider's Guide to the Olympic Peninsula (Globe Pequot, 2001)
White Rabbit Publishing ---- http://www.whiterabbits.com
Mac Net Journal ---------- http://www.macnetjournal.com
The Equinox Project ------ http://www.whiterabbits.com/weblog.html