Tweeters,

In the evening of October 18, on the way home from an unsuccessful
effort to find the Lesser Black-backed Gull at Sun Lakes State Park, I
attempted to locate a Boreal Owl along the North Cascades Highway
(State Route 20) between Newhalem and Mazama. I was unsuccessful, but
I thought I would report my results anyway.

I played tapes for about 15 minutes at each of 3 different locations:
(1) Lone Fir Campground, (2) the Cutthroat Lake trailhead, and (3) the
Blue Lake trailhead, just west of Washington Pass.

It's possible that Lone Fir is at too low an altitude for Boreal Owls
(about 3600 feet), although the area has a lot of fairly old Engelmann
spruce, mixed with Douglas-fir and other species. The Cutthroat Lake
trailhead, about a mile north of SR-20 on a side road, is considerably
higher (at least 4500 feet), and the habitat looked marginal-- some
older spruce, but mostly mixed-age, younger spruce and lodgepole pine.
Of the three places, the habitat looked best at the Blue Lake
trailhead, which is above 5000 feet in altitude.

October is a good time of year to get responses from Boreal Owls,
based on previous experience in BC, and there was no wind and very
little traffic on SR-20. However, it was snowing lightly at the Blue
Lake trailhead, which may have discouraged an owl response there.

An even better spot, by the looks of the habitat, might be the road
from Washington Pass (5477 feet) to the lookout (about 5600 feet).
However, the gate on this road was locked, and I did not have time to
walk the 500 yards or so needed to get into good old-growth spruce. (I
wanted to get home at a reasonable hour!)

Has anyone on the group had luck in the past in finding Boreal Owls
along or near the North Cascades Highway? If so, I'd be interested in
knowing exact locations. I'd be willing to bet money that they are
found somewhere along the highway within about 10 miles each way from
Washington Pass.

I don't know why there seems to be such a frenzy to find Boreal Owls
on Mount Rainier, where, as others have noted, the use of tapes is
prohibited within the National Park. There are literally dozens of
locations in Washington where Boreal Owls have been found, along
almost the entire length of the Cascades, in the Blue Mountains, and
in northeastern Washington. I haven't found Boreal Owls in the state
yet mainly because I haven't tried in the right places at the right
time of year. Maybe birders shouldn't be so focused on finding the
owls close to Seattle and Tacoma, and be willing to travel a little
farther afield. This should not be a bird that is hard to find, with a
little time and effort. Boreal Owls are definitely secretive, but they
are widespread and are not rare in the state.

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net