Hi all,

We just returned from a weekend of nordic skiing in Winthrop. Aside
from the 38 kilometers or so of skiing, some good birds were observed.
It started with a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK near our house on the way out. It
is the first I've seen in our immediate area this winter.

At Winthrop, on January 29th, we started out the day with a beautiful
PRAIRIE FALCON on the road to Sun Mountain. It allowed great looks
before flying off to a distant tree. Some of the photos I took clearly
show the black "armpit". My dad spotted an eagle in a snag a ways off
while watching the falcon fly, and when we went over to get a better
look, it turned into a GOLDEN EAGLE. We seem to have a tradition with
seeing Golden Eagles at Winthrop. Out of three trips we've made in the
last year, we have seen 1-2 of them all 3 times!

There wasn't much else on day one, but I did hear some PINE GROSBEAKS
somewhere in the trees farther up the mountains. There were also small
groups of birds that I couldn't see without binoculars and standing
staring at the trees while the others got ahead. I did manage to see a
few BROWN CREEPERS and I heard RB Nuts, Pgymies, and Mountain Chickadees
(I saw them skiing at Mazama later in the day). The skiing was great,
though!

On day two, my dad found a group of about 20 COMMON REDPOLLS feeding
happily at the top of Sun Mountain by the lodge. After skiing that
area, we headed over to the Mazama trails again. We were alerted to the
presence of some bird by a loud, melodious song. I didn't recognize it,
and made my way towards the source (the river). It turned out to be an
AMERICAN DIPPER, and there were two of them, and maybe up to four in the
area. One was chasing another making loud calls. They went right under
the suspension bridge that we were skiing over. There was a BELTED
KINGFISHER there, too. Farther along, I saw a PILEATED WOODPECKER
flying. The flight style, size, and shape were unmistakable. My
parents saw another flock of about 50 COMMON REDPOLLS along there, too,
but I was ahead of them and didn't see them. The scenery was excellent
along this stretch of trail.

It was a great, fun trip! I have found that there is always a little
time for the birds, no matter what kind of trip it is!

Thats it for now...

Michael Woodruff
Spokane, WA