Steve Caldwell, Gary Nafis and I birded the Okanogan and did the Tonasket Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) last weekend. We counted 79 species for the BBS route, several birds higher than the average 75 per year. For the whole weekend we totalled about 125 species with some interesting highlights.

On the way over North Cascades, we stopped at the Skagit/Whatcom county line ponds and found two singing male American Redstarts.

North of Winthrop on the still paved portion of FS37, Gary looked through the windshield to see rubber boas on the road from the back seat of my Landrover. These cool snakes didn't even register on Steve and I as we scanned ahead looking for birds. When Gary started telling us what to look for we still didn't get it until he pointed them out. They looked like foot long thin sticks out on the pavement.

We stayed the night at Roger's Lake and listened for Boreal Owls there and at Tiffany Springs without any luck. But we were serenaded by Hermit Thrushes and learned the wierd "reeep" sounding call note that they make that none of us were previously familiar with. It sounded more like some sort of mammal call than anything else. We found Boreal Chickadees and Three-toed Woodpeckers in the woods.

The weather held for us and we climbed Freezeout Ridge the next morning. At about 7400 feet where the forest thins out to small meadow patches we kicked up some Blue Grouse and found a couple of Slate-colored Fox Sparrows singing, perching on larch. Steve got some photos and Gary recorded their song. A little further up beyond the tree line, Horned Larks were singing and displaying, flying up high into the sky up toward approaching rain and hail clouds.

On the way east, we stopped in Loomis where feeders attracted many Rufous, Calliope and Black-chinned Hummingbirds. At the corner of Aeneas Valley Road and Highway 20, Bobolinks gave us close looks despite a heavy rain squall. Further up the valley, a female Barrow's Goldeneye was teaching three small chicks to dive on Round Lake. The drought has dried up the formerly productive small seasonal ponds in wet fields along the road that in other years yielded many ducks, shorebirds, phalarope and Black Terns. But we still found one wet spot with a small stream about a mile from the beginning of the West Fork of the San Poil River with Virginia Rail and Common Yellowthroat.

A mile or so before the campground on the West Fork, still in OK County, we found Northern Waterthrush. Gary recorded one's song and played it back to him and we were very aggressively circled and then attacked.

We found nests or young of the following species during the trip: Mallard, Barrow's Goldeneye, Red-naped Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker, Pygmy Nuthatch, House Wren, Cliff Swallow, Mountain Bluebird and Western Bluebird.

Birds recorded for the Tonasket BBS route (Siwash Creek Rd east of Tonasket down to Havilah Road, into Tonasket, out to Aeneas Lake and further up the west bench).

GB Heron
Ruddy Duck
C. Goldeneye
Redhead
Canada Goose
RN Pheasant
CA Quail
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
RT Hawk (a total of nine, about twice the usual number)
Kestrel
Coot
Killdeer
Snipe
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
GH Owl (a couple of this year's hatch)
Calliope Hummer (several more than usual)
Rufous Hummer
Red-naped Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Flicker
Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Hammond's Flycatcher
Say's Phoebe
W. Kingbird
E. Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
Magpie
Crow
Raven
Steller's Jay
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
NRW Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow (all of the swallows had low numbers and we missed Bank Swallow on the actual count for the first time since I've been doing this route, 10 years).
BC Chickadee
Mtn Chickadee
RB Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
House Wren
Rock Wren
W. Bluebird (seemed to be doing very well this year)
Mtn Bluebird
Veery
Robin
Solitaire
Catbird
Starling
Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler (unusual for the count)
Tanager
BH Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Towhee
Brewer's Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Junco
RW Blackbird
YH Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Cowbird
Meadowlark
Bobolink
Oriole
House Finch
Siskin
Goldfinch

Ed Swan
Vashon Island
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20050613/dd77c531/attachment.htm
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 6848 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20050613/dd77c531/attachment.jfif