Greetings
Very early Friday morning, Fred Boesche and I left for eastern Washington,
picking up Scott Downes on the way. Our first stop was in Spokane Valley,
where we happily waited 15 minutes to view the male Cape May Warbler at its
feeders. From there we headed north. Four Golden Eagles were seen along Hwy
395. We briefly birded in the town of Chewelah, where there were 60 or 70
Bohemian Waxwings and various other expected species. In the afternoon we
birded up to Sherman Pass. Pine Grosbeaks were quite easy to come by along
the road. After dark we made a special effort to find Boreal Owls near the
pass, but struck out. The weather was perfect, but perhaps we were too early
in the year. We stayed the night in Kettle Falls, then headed up Sherman
Pass again in the morning. Some interesting things were seen on the west
side of the pass, especially in the White Mountain burn area. Two Northern
Pygmy-Owls were called in, and at least two American Three-toed Woodpeckers
were in the area. Unfortunately, no hawk-owl was located, but there's no
lack of habitat up there.

Continuing west into Okanogan County, we turned onto Toroda Creek Road and
headed towards Chesaw. Pygmy-owls were quite dense in this whole area. Near
the town of Bolster we found two flocks of Pine Grosbeaks, each with about
20 birds. Just south of Chesaw, there was a flock of at least 250 Common
Redpolls feeding on a weedy slope. We flushed a Ruffed Grouse along Mary Ann
Creek Road. We drove many other roads in the area, but saw very little. Just
before 5PM we arrived at the Havillah Sno-Park (SR 3230). Just after we
pulled off at the second cattleguard, a Great Gray Owl flew up and perched
on a short pine at the edge of the meadow. We gazed silently as the bird
hunted, plunging under two feet of snow and successfully extracting a small
rodent! As darkness set in, a Northern Pygmy-Owl, five Great Horned, and a
Northern Saw-whet Owl were all within hearing distance of this same
location. Wow! Up in the next meadow another Saw-whet began calling, as did
a Long-eared Owl. The Long-eared soon came in to investigate my Barred Owl
call (apparently no Barred in the area). It was an amazing evening for owls.

After spending the night in Omak, we headed south and birded along Cameron
Lake Road from Okanogan to Brewster. At the north end of the road, we
spotted a huge adult Northern Goshawk perched in a short tree, which
eventually flew out over the fields. Otherwise the road was fairly
unproductive, just Horned Larks, Northern Shrikes, and the like. A wide
variety of waterfowl was in the Okanogan River in Brewster. About 100
Bohemians were in an orchard near the junction of Hwy 17 and 97. Bridgeport
State Park was extremely slow, as was the town itself. We headed across to
Grand Coulee, where we dipped on several things (the Blue Jay was in the
area, but not seen by us). There were at least three Red-breasted Mergansers
in Banks Lake. Our final highlight was about 15 Snow Buntings in the area of
Atkins Lake on the eastern Waterville Plateau.

Cheers
Charlie Wright
Bonney Lake, Washington