When I planned for my trip to Pend Oreille County this
weekend, I was trying to maximize my chances for
county lifers. Although I hadn't really considered a
big day type event, Craig Corder and I finished up the
Saturday (5/29/05) with a total of 123 species (all in
Pend Oreille Co.)!.

With brilliant azure skies, warm temps, and calm
conditions, we had the perfect spring day in which to
bird this beautiful county. Overall, birds were quite
active and singing. Since there seemed to be something
interesting at virtually every site, we experienced
very few slow periods.

Our first stop in the morning, was Rocky Gorge.
RING-NECKED DUCKS, WOOD DUCKS, BUFFLEHEAD, REDHEAD,
PIED-BILLED GREBE, GREAT BLUE HERON, and AMERICAN COOT
populated the wetlands. A large cow moose bellowed at
us from the middle of the marsh.

In the surrounding wet alder thickets and brushy
hillsides, we noted MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBER, NASHVILLE
WARBLER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, TOWNSEND'S WARBLER,
WARBLING VIREO, RED-EYED VIREO, CASSIN'S VIREO,
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, DUSKY FLYCATCHER, PACIFIC SLOPE
FLYCATCHER, HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER, WESTERN WOOD PEWEE,
YELLOW WARBLER, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, LAZULI BUNTING,
SORA, WILSON'S SNIPE, REE SWALLOW, WESTERN TANAGER,
WINTER WREN, and SHARP-SHINNED HAWK.

Our next stop at the Kalispell Indian Reservation
Marsh, rewarded us with BOBOLINK, BALD EAGLE, OSPREY,
WESTERN MEADOWLARK, SAVANNAH SPARROW, EASTERN
KINGBIRD, DC CORMORANT, GRAY CATBIRD. A little farther
up the road, the Flying Goose Ranch held BULLOCK'S
ORIOLE (county lifer), AMERICAN REDSTART, SPOTTED
SANDPIPER, and MARSH WREN.

For the first time, I tried the Dry Canyon route (well
described in the Opperman guide) that runs north along
West LeClerc Creek up to Sullivan Road. In the
meadowlands in the southern end of the route, we
easily found a VESPER SPARROW (county lifer). A
couple of miles north of the open meadows, the terrain
is dominated by Lodgepole Pine flats.

While slowing down to examine some pine trees that had
the tell-tale signs of Black-backed/Three Toed
Woodpecker scaling, I saw a probable Black-backed
Woodpecker fly across the road. A couple of miles
farther up, we stopped to listen to a distant
Olive-sided Flycatcher. Once again, we noticed bark
scaling on many of the Lodgeple Pines.

As Craig and were conversing about how there should be
a Black-backed Woodpecker around here, a male
BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER (county lifer) flew into a
Western Larch, gave a few wooden sounding pic calls,
and then entered a nest hole. As it began to excavate
the hole from the inside, we could see it's yellow
crowned head bobbing up and down through the hole.
Later, the BBWO emerged and began working on the
outside of the hole and scaled off the bark around the
lower portion of the nest hole. It then flew into an
adjacent Lodgepole Pine and performed some bark
scaling.

As we enjoyed watching the Black-backed from a mere
forty feet away, we marveled on how undisturbed the
bird was by our presence. For a grand finale, the
Black-backed flew onto a utility pole and performed a
triumphant drumming. During this time, we never did
see it's mate. It was a wonderful show from a great
bird.

The location of the BBWO, is on West LeClerc Creek
Road (CR-3503) about six miles north of the junction
from the paved LeClerc Road (CR-9325) or about a mile
south from where CR-3503 turns into Fr-1933 (DL Pg.
119- D6). Look for a section in the Lodgepole Flats
where there are utility poles on the east side of the
road. The specific pole to look for is numbered
BS-159-L70. Standing in front of this pole, look to
the southeast and you will see a Lodgepole Pine about
twenty-five yards away with a significant nest pole
some twenty feet high.

Farther up into Dry Canyon, we scoped the lake that
had been referenced as a potential site for Barrow's
Goldeneye, Although we saw a family of COMMON
GOLDENEYEs, we didn't detect any Barrow's. However, we
did see a SOLITARY SANDPIPER (county lifer) fly into
the grassy shallows on the far shore. WILLOW
FLYCATCHERs and a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH were present
here too. On a section with a steeper slope, we saw a
BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD doing it's display flight.

Since Craig needed Boreal Chickadee for a state bird,
and I needed Three-toed Woodpecker for the county, we
drove up to Bunchgrass Meadows. In the brushy barrens,
we saw WILSON'S WARBLER, STELLER'S JAY, OLIVE-SIDED
FLYCATCHER, CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, and heard a FOX
SPARROW.

Between the barricaded spur to the southern end of
Bunchgrass and the parking area on the eastern
section, there is extensive closed-canopy Englemann
Spruce and Subalpine Fir. As we proceeded slowly past
fallen trees, rocks, and snow melt, we heard a
different sounding chickadee song. Some modest pishing
brought in a several chickadees.
In fact, the first one that looked at was a BOREAL
CHICKADEE. The other two birds were MOUNTAIN
CHICKADEEs.

Craig and I enjoyed stunning views of the Boreal
Chickadee as it came out into full sunlight. The brown
crown and back, narrow white cheek patch, and buffy
flanks were all well seen. As it flitted around above
our heads, the Boreal delivered it's typical wheezy
call.

The bridge over Harvey Creek on Sullivan Lake Road,
produced a DIPPER. RED-NECKED GREBEs and a lone
CALIFORNIA GULL (county lifer) were on the lake
itself.

After dipping on seeing any Harlequin Ducks, we drove
into Metaline Falls. While EVENING GROSBEAKs were
scattered around downtown, we observed VAUX'S SWIFTs,
CLIFF SWALLOWS, VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS, and a few
WHITE-THROATED SWIFTs (county lifer) wheeling over
the rocky palisades that rise above the Pend Oreille
River bridge.

In the early evening, we birded Calispell Lake and
found AMERICAN AVOCETs -3 (county lifer), BLUE-WINGED
TEAL, CINNAMON TEAL, CANVASBACK, LESSER SCAUP,
GADWALL, AMERICAN BITTERN -1, WILSONS PHALAROPE -4
(county lifer), and a pair of SANDHILL CRANES (county
lifer). Isn't it rather late for Sandhill Cranes to
be lingering around our state?

A stop on the Calispell Creek crossing gave us more
AMERICAN REDSTARTS, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, drumming
RUFFED GROUSE, catbirds, vireos, and GREEN-WINGED
TEAL.

The mammal list of the day was Red-tailed Chipmunk,
Red Squirrel, Columbia Ground Squirrel, White-tailed
Deer, Muskrat, and Moose -3.

Long daylight hours mean more birding time. I can
hardly wait to bird up there again.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA



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