Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Central Washington trip
Date: Jan 18 10:36:20 2005
From: Kenneth Brown - kennethwbrown at hotmail.com


Hi Tweets,
Fourteen intrepid Tacoma birders ventured to the east over the weekend. The
forecast looked cold
but fairly promising with only 30% chance of snow on Sat. & Sun. What a
surprise for us. We start-
ed along Lateral A out of Yakima, (Palm Springs of Wash.), with a balmy 18.
Several in our group
had seen LE owls there last March, we were rewarded with 1 after a deligent
look. We next ventur-
ed to the Moxee Ag. station were we had a couple of GH owls. Lunching at
the Vernita Bridge
rest stop, 2 White Pelicans flew over. This is undoubtedly one of the
coldest spots in our cherished
state, 12 with a wind chill to the bones. We tried valiantly for the Snowy
owls at Moses Lake, 1.5
hrs, but apparently they have moved off, or were hunkered down out of sight.
We dipped on the
Gyr falcon also along 5NE. It started snowing sideways, 20-30 mph winds as
we pulled into Ephrata.
Next morning broke cloudy, not snowing and calm. We headed to Electric
City, and it lived up to
it's name. South of Hartline we had our first mixed flock, H. Larks with 3
Snow Buntings. Above
Hartline on W, in quick succession we had 2 Prairie Falcons and 2 Golden
Eagles. Our spirts were
beginning to lift, even if just a little. In Electric City, just up from
the junction of SR 155&174,
reported from cbc, our first flock 150, Bohemian Waxwings, also 16 Pine
Grosbeaks. Ah, we were
cooking now. About 2 miles up 174, we located a flock of 800-1000 Rosy
finches. This truly made
the trip for many. We have been searching 7 or 8 winters for these
critters. We were rolling now.
Up on the Waterville, we stopped at St. Andrews a well known Tree Sparrow
hole, but no luck.
Continuing on Heritage, we checked for Sage Grouse and Tree Sparrows, the
latter 1 mile from sr172
in a small copse of trees. No luck on either. We tried for the Snowy Owl
MP34, no where in sight.
As we pulled into Brewster for the night shortly after 5pm, in the last car
Diane Yorgason-Quinn
reported a dark bird swooping into a tree. She led us back to 2 GH owls
calling at each. What a
great way to end the day. Sunday we woke to heavy snowfall and news that
the pass was closed.
We decided to stay out of Havillah and bird locally. Up Central Ferry, we
had large flocks of sparrows,
a Cooper's, a GH owl hunkered low in a willow along the left side of the
road and we found our
first Redpolls. Working the water birch, 30 in the flock flew to within
about 50'. What a great treat.
Checking again for Tree sparrow on the the Bridgeport bar we came up with a
Savannah, to our
great surprise and a Merlin. We entered Bridgeport, supplied with a
location for the E. Blue Jay by
Meredith Spencer, and immediately spied it with Stellar's flying across
Columbia I believe, main st.,
and between 20th and 19th. Not bad for 5 minutes in town. We decided to
head up on the plateau again. No ST. grouse again, but on the plateau, we
were rewarded with mixed flocks of
larks, 7 snow buntings, and 1 GC rosy finch. Heading for the barn in
freezing rain, couldn't keep
it off the windshields, we headed for the barn. We arrived at the pass in
frozen conditions, which
necessited 25 mph speeds made it home with only a 10 minute stop for
avalanche control. Cold
you bet, sat. 7-19, sun 8-20, mon 24-55. Numb chilling stops reminded me of
those snowball fights
as kids, when your hands burn with numbing coldness. A good weekend by all,
you better believe
it. Hope this helps with your winter plans.
KennethWBrown
kennethwbrown at hotmail.com
Port Orchard, Wa.