Hi Tweets

This last Saturday Matthew Moskwik lead a trip for WOS to higher elevations of Pend Oreille County. On our way over on Friday we hit a number of places for birds.

Dennis - we also were at Vantage on Friday and saw many of the same birds you did, but we went down to the boat launch at Wanapum SP. There were virtually no birds visible from that location - a few American Coots off shore. Further down, at Getty's Cove we saw Mallards, Green-winged Teal, an Eared Grebe, lots of coots, some American Wigeon, Killdeer, a couple of Horned Grebe out on the river and a single Ring-billed Gull.

At Soap Lake we had Ring-billed Gull, two Peregrine Falcons, lots of Ruddy Ducks, Northern Shovelers, Eared Grebes and a couple of Common Ravens. At Lenore Lake we had the same, plus Western Grebe and Canada Goose. At Blue Lake we added Canvasback, Western Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Greater Scaup, Pied-billed Grebe and Common Loon.

A stop at the Davenport Cemetary gave us Yellow-rumped Warbler, Varied Thrush, Northern Flicker. We ran into a local birder who told us that several Eurasian-collered Doves were around the grain towers. In town we saw Rock Pigeon, House Sparrow, Mourning Dove, American Robin and Brewer's Blackbird. Finally, between the westernmost grain tower and the cattle yard we had several doves in a dead tree. Included were at least four Eurasian-collered Doves, a new bird for me.

Loads of ducks on Reardon Ponds including Mallard, American Wigeon, Ruddy Duck and American Coot, Canada Goose and House Finches.

Saturday morning we arrived at our meeting spot early, and drove down the road a ways. In the old cemetary we had a Cooper's Hawk fly over. We met Matthew at 8 AM and started out for our first stop - Bunchgrass Meadow in Pend Oreille County. Along the way on SR211 we had a Ruffed Grouse by the side of the road, and several Black-billed Magpies and Common Ravens.

Along Forest Road 1935 we made several stops once we got into the habitat for boreal species. At our first stop we had several Common Ravens circling, but otherwise is was quiet. The other cars had started up when I spotted a Golden Eagle. We caught up with the others and found a second Golden in a tree on the skyline. It took off and circled and was joined by the first one. At the next stop we had a small flock of Mountain Chickadees, and two Boreal Chickadees (unfortunately the Boreals were buried in the foliage and we didn't get good views). We had several other Mountain Chickadee flocks, but no more Boreals. In general it was very quiet. No activity at Bunchgrass Meadow, with the exception of a Pileated Woodpecker as we first pulled in. Up top, at our lunch stop we had a couple of Gray Jays and rapid Merlin fly thru. On our way back down we had brief looks at a Pine Grosbeak, heard a Northern Pygmy-owl calling, saw a soaring Red-tailed Hawk and had Varied Thrush on the ground where we had left a couple of cars. On the way up to Metaline Falls we had a Ring-necked Duck on Sullivan Lake.

Later in the afternoon we made our way up to Salmo Pass and killed a short time waiting for it to get dark. It was clear, cold, full moon and windless. Matthew filled us in on what were we going to be doing in searching for Boreal Owl, and said that he would try at the parking spot, but that he hadn't had much luck at that spot. Famous last words! We heard a Boreal Owl up the hill, and when Matthew played a tape the bird came right in and gave several "skiew" calls. This turned out to be the most cooperative bird of the evening. It hung around, changed locations several times and obligingly called a number of times. We could never get it in our lights. We moved along the trail a ways and had a second Boreal come in and call. While looking, I had the bird fly by about 8 feet away. This was a Washington State bird for me. Again it called some more, but no visual sightings. Further on we had a third bird calling and circling us, but they wouldn't make an appearance for the lights. Out at the first bend we had a bird call and immediately move away from us calling two more times - last we heard of it. Further around we had a distant bird call once. We didn't know whether it made a difference but high cirrus moved in partially obscuring the moon, the wind came up slightly and the temperature rose. We worked the area over some more, but got no more contacts. We felt that five Boreal Owls was still quite successful. On the way back to the cars we heard a Barred Owl calling down in the canyon - don't know whether that made a difference.

The next morning, we had a Northern Pygmy-owl being mobbed by chickadees and nuthatches. It flew and perched at the top of a Douglas Fir and proceeded to call continuously for about 10 minutes. Some of us accompanied Matthew back down the valley. Along the river we had American Robins, Western Grebe on the river, Common Ravens and American Crows. At Riverbend Loop Road we had a Red-tailed Hawk perched in a tree, a couple of House Finches. At Flying Goose Ranch we had two calling Marsh Wrens, a Song Sparrow and an immature White-crowned Sparrow in the road. Out at the river we had Bald Eagle, Northern Flicker, American Wigeon, Mallard, Canada Goose, Common Merganser, Greater Scaup flyover, Double-crested Cormorant, Green-winged Teal, Pied-billed Grebe, and several "tons" of American Coots across the river. On River Road between Usk and Cusick we had American Wigeon, Mallards and Ring-necked Duck across the river, Double-crested Cormorant perched on pilings, and Black-capped Chickadees, House Finch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-crowned Sparrow and Lincoln Sparrow all at one location. A Sharp-shinned Hawk flew over. At this point the rain started to move down into the valley and we had a long drive home ahead of us so we thanked Matthew and headed out.

Matthew is very knowledgeable of the area and was an excellent leader. It was a good trip, and we all had a good time. As Marv would say "It was a Good two days".

Brian H. Bell
Woodinville WA
bell asoc at isomedia dot com