Over the weekend (3/31/07-04/01/07), Kim Thorburn and
birded Douglas County, northern canyons of Lincoln
County, and some of Okanogan County (in the vicinity
of Brewster). On Saturday, weather conditions were
windy and mostly cloudy, while Sunday was gloriously
sunny and cool. Temps ranged from 30 degrees on the
frozen slopes of Central Ferry Canyon to the upper
50's in the lower elevations.

On Saturday morning, we drove through some of the
canyons of northern Lincoln County. Our hope was to
find Ruffed Grouse, PIleated Woodpecker, or
Black-backed Woodpecker. Unfortunately, we didn't see
any of these difficult county targets. Some of the
highlights of the canyons' tour included:

Spring Creek Canyon:
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK
STELLER'S JAY
CANYON WREN

Mondovi:
TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE

Hawk Creek Canyon:
NORTHERN SHRIKE
STELLER'S JAY
CASSIN'S FINCH
WESTERN BLUEBIRD

Underwood Canyon:
WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH
PYGMY NUTHATCH
STELLER'S JAY

Sterling Valley:
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH - pair at nest hole
SPOTTED TOWHEE - abundant through out the canyons

N. Telford Road/Bachelor Prairie
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD

Yellow-Pine Chipmunks and Mule Deer were the mammal
bonuses.

When we reached our first birding spot in Douglas
County, things picked up nicely. From the public
fishing access at the southwestern corner of Banks
Lake (at the northwestern end of Dry Falls Dam), we
saw all three species of mergansers within one field
of view. There were three female HOODED MERGANSERs,
five RED-BREASTED MERGANSERs (3 males, 2 females) and
several COMMON MERGANSERs present.

Aside from the numerous AMERICAN COOTs, there were
quite a few EARED GREBEs and HORNED GREBEs in all
states of pre-alternate plumage. Farther out, there
were a couple of Common Loons.

On a broad loop of Hwy 17 to Sim's Corner and back
down to the dry lakebed of Atkins' Lake on Heritage
Road, we were disappointed in not seeing any Sandhill
Cranes or shorebirds. Along our route, we did see
NORTHERN SHOVELER, LESSER SCAUP, NO. PINTAIL, RUDDY
DUCK, HOODED MERGANSER, GRAY PARTRIDGE, numerous
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKs, HORNED LARKS, and a LONG-EARED OWL
(in the Heritage Thicket).

Back on Hwy 2 (between Whitehall Road and MP 174, we
saw a rare WHITE-TAILED JACKRABBIT. We first saw the
WT Jackrabbit running down a rugged slope covered in
typical shrub-steppe vegetation. When we parked on the
shoulder of the road, the rabbit sped past our rig and
continued down loping the highway. Finally, it left
the highway and run down a brushy draw to the south.
This was the first jackrabbit that I have ever seen
in the state.

In Moses Coulee, we had excellent views of a couple
SAGE SPARROWs, a pair of mating PEREGRINE FALCONs, a
light-phased FERRUGINOUS HAWK with prey,
WHITE-THROATED SWIFTs, SAY'S PHOEBE, NORTHERN SHRIKE,
a pair of BREWER'S SPARROWs, CANYON WREN, and a brief
view of a SAGE THRASHER.

As usual, Jameson Lake had plenty of waterfowl traffic
that included BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, COMMON GOLDENEYE,
REDHEAD, CANVASBACK, PIED-BILLED GREBE, RUDDY DUCK,
AMERICAN COOT, GADWALL, NO. PINTAIL, NO. SHOVELER,
AMERICAN WIGEON, and a a pair of CANADA GEESE. The
best bird present was undoubtedly the lone Taverner's
CACKLING GOOSE.

The main impetus for this trip was my strong desire to
see displaying Blue Grouse on their lek. Although I
have seen the elaborate ritual dances of most of our
native grouse (both Lesser & Greater Prairie
Chickens, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Ruffed Grouse, and
Greater Sage Grouse), I had never seen Blue Grouse
perform.

Last year Mike Denny's party had success viewing
displaying Blue Grouse in Central Ferry Canyon. A week
later, several of us Spokane birders made an attempt
for them but failed to find any. Apparently, this
species is perhaps the most difficult to pin down and
consistently see displaying in the spring.

At any rate, I was planning on a pre-dawn, April's
Fools Day attempt to see them in Central Ferry Canyon.
The question was, would we luck out or would I go down
in flames like last year?

Although I had precise directions to where the Dennys
had seen them last year, I didn't rush up to that
exact spot. Recallingg that I had once flushed a Sage
Grouse off the road well before dawn, I decided to
very slowly drive up the canyon.

Conditions seemed to be perfect. The morning was cold,
perfectly clear, and calm. At 6:00 AM (half hour
before sunrise), we saw some movement in our
headlights. On the shoulder of the road, was a pair of
DUSKY (BLUE) GROUSE in full performance of their
elaborate springtime ritual. The male had it's tail
fanned out, it's purplish red neck sacs inflated
against it's fluffy white neck feathers, and the big
yellow eye combs extended!

Fortunately, the birds completely ignored us, and they
slowly worked their way up the slope. While the female
nonchalantly pecked at the ground, the male continued
to woo her with his courtly finery. After watching
this pair for over twenty minutes, the birds
disappeared over the ridge. We saw several more grouse
scattered along the road. In the forested upper reach
of the canyon, we saw more displaying grouse. When we
returned to the lower sections of the canyon, we could
hear quite a few other Dusky Grouse hooting farther
out into the sage.

We noticed to distinct types of dispaly behavior. When
the male was actively courting/chasing the female, he
would have has tail fully extended to the vertical and
he would emit a single note hoot that sounded like
blowing into a bottle. If a male did not have a female
in close proximity, then he would deliver a sort of
pumping, rhythmic, deep-pitched, series of hoots, and
his tail would not be fanned out.

We were thoroughly impressed with this colorful grouse
spectacle. These are beautiful and marvelous birds!

In the forested portion of Central Ferry Canyon, there
were PYGMY & RB NUTHATCHes (I still have yet to see a
White-breasted here), RED CROSSBILL, CASSIN'S FINCH,
HAIRY WOODPECKER, RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER (heard
drumming), MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET,
SPOTTED TOWHEE, and Least Chipmunk. In the
shrub-steppe section of the canyon, we saw singing
VESPER SPARROWs, and BREWER'S SPARROWs.

Afterwards, we did a loop that included from Brewster
to Cassimer Bar, Washburn Island, Brdgeport S.P., and
Bridgeport Bar. Even though we didn't find anything
incredible, we did see WOOD DUCKs and hear a MARSH
WREN on Washburn Island (Okanoagon Co.); VARIED THRUSH
and a flock of 25 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGs in the West Unit
of Well's Wildlife Area (Douglas Co.); SAY'S PHOEBEs
and Yellow-bellied Marmots in Bridgeport State Park.

During the day, we crossed paths with a fun group of
Seattle of birders who had successfully viewed
Greater Sage Grouse at the Leahy Junction lek.

Since we were highly successful on viewing displaying
Dusky Grouse, and we saw quite a few other nice
shrub-steppe specialties to boot, we were well
satisfied with our weekend.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA



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