On this chilly, blustery afternoon, Kim Thorburn and I
birded the West Plains from extreme western Spokane
County to Swanson Lakes (Lincoln Co.). Although we
didn't find anything extraordinary, we certainly
enjoyed a nice selection of winter birds.

Along Hwy 2 in Spokane County (just shy of the
Spokane-Lincoln County line), we saw a ROUGH-LEGGED
HAWK as well as a flock of 30+ GRAY-CROWNED ROSY
FINCHEs . Reardan's Audubon Lake held quite a few
Tundra Swans and a pair of TRUMPETER SWANs. As we
sorted through the swans, a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED
GOOSE landed in the midst the swans.

We briefly observed an AMERICAN TREE SPARROW at West
Reardan. Mondovi Lake (north of the town of Mondovi)
had a couple of NORTHERN SHRIKES hunting near the
shore and loads of Canada Geese. Unfortunately, we
could not turn up any Snow Geese that I still need for
my Lincoln County list.

There were a couple of VARIED THRUSHes feeding on the
lawn on the leeward side of the Davenport Cemetery,
but otherwise the wind kept passerine activity down.
Later, we saw another Varied Thrush in an old apple
tree by the Swanson Lakes headquarters.

After scoping through more Tundra Swans, Pintail,
Shovelers, and C. Goldeneyes on Swanson Lakes, we
hiked into a remote isolated woodlot where I had heard
there were Ruffed Grouse. Although we never saw any
grouse, we did see a couple of Porcupines. We managed
to flush a LONG-EARED OWL from the willow thicket too.

At sunset, we returned to the parking area and saw a
Great Horned Owl. As a fitting finale, we had close
views of a SHORT-EARED OWL hunting low over the
shrub-steppe.

It was fun to take advantage in the break between
storms, to see some nice winter visitors, and to find
three different owl species.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA



____________________________________________________________________________________
Want to start your own business?
Learn how on Yahoo! Small Business.
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/r-index