Subject: [Tweeters] Stevens and Pend Oreille Counties (last week)
Date: Aug 18 15:11:06 2007
From: Stan Arnold - dy.dx at earthlink.net


Hello Tweeters,

This is the third of possibly five trip reports from the recent visit my
wife and I made to Washington. On Thursday, 9 Aug, we left our quarters
west of Spokane, and headed toward the northeast corner of the state. We
headed north on Rte 231 from Rearden to Chewelah, where the only birds of
note (for us) were BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE and a flock of WILD TURKEY. Our
first destination would be Pend Oreille NWR in Stevens Co.. By the way,
that's "Pond o-RAY" for non-locals who do not speak French. I just had to
look it up. The words mean something to the effect of "ear pendent" and
probably came from French-speaking trappers who named the native tribe after
the large flashy ear-rings that they wore. Thus we have the Pend Oreille
Indians, Pend Oreille Lake, Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille County, and
today's first destination for us easterners, the Pend Oreille NWR.

Another flock of WILD TURKEY caught our attention along the entry way to the
refuge. Our first stop was to the refuge HQ, where we were fortunate to
have a conversation with Barbara Harding, a staff member there. Being a
birder herself, Barbara was just the one we needed to talk to. We gave her
our list of "wanna-see's" and she responded with a list of "try-here's."
She gave us permission to walk into the normally restricted maintenance
compound to look for our first target, and this we did. We were still about
50 yards from the first building in the compound when we saw a woodpecker on
the side of tree about three feet off the ground. I thought it was a
sapsucker, but looking through the bins I saw that beautiful face that
reminded me of a Hooded Warbler, except it was white on black--our first and
only WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER of the trip. And I didn't have my scope, so I
ran back to the car to get it, but the bird was gone when I returned. We
also saw RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER and saw and heard several WESTERN WOOD-PEWEEs
in this area. We stopped back at the HQ area and birded the little habitat
garden and nearby environs where we picked up our first CHIPPING SPARROW and
HOUSE FINCH of the trip, heard RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, and saw VIOLET-GREEN
SWALLOWs lined up on a wire allowing me some decent digiscopes.

Next we would try, unsuccessfully, for Black-backed Woodpecker, by hiking up
to some high ground where there had been a burn. We spent over an hour in
the fruitless search, but as we descended back toward our vehicle, a
large-ish bird flew over--pale in front, pale in back, dark in the middle.
It flew like a jay, but looked bigger. Soon, another one flew over that
both Elaine and I saw, and it was rather noisy. Gosh, I wanted to call it a
Clark's Nutcracker, but we were only around two thousand feet in elevation.
So we checked in with Barbara, who to my astonishment, said that CLARK'S
NUTCRACKER flew over regularly, and this was at an elevation of 2200 feet!
I have seen this bird in Colorado, Wyoming, California, and Oregon, and
NEVER at an altitude below 5000 feet. I didn't think to ask where these
birds roosted and where they nested. Was this just post-breeding wandering?

Also while returning to the car we heard, but did not see, our first PYGMY
NUTHATCH for the trip. Having killed a fair amount of time looking for
Black-backs, it was time to move on, as we had an ambitious itinerary. We
stopped at a stream crossing in the refuge, but dipped on finding Dipper,
and then pressed on into Pend Oreille County.

Our first destination in P.O. Co. was Sulivan Lake, where we stopped at the
bridge crossing at the south end. We thought this is where we were supposed
to look for Dipper, but the habitat was all wrong. We scoped the lake, and
saw a sight I had seen in many photos, but never in person--a RED-NECKED
GREBE carrying babies on its back. Unfortunately, way too far out for a
photo. Also on the lake were some COMMON MERGANSERs, and perched on a snag
above the water a group of eight N. ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWs. A group of PINE
SISKIN picked grit off the road nearby, and a kind fisherman asked if we had
seen the goats on the mountain, to which we responded "Goats?" With his
careful description we knew where to look, and with a bit of searching we
were able to find the small herd of about ten MOUNTAIN GOATs, working their
way down the slope. We missed them in Alaska; it was great to get to see
them here. We weren't quite sure where to find the stream that was supposed
to have dippers, but driving the main road back south of the lake for a mile
or two, we came upon a stream where the habitat looked good. After scanning
here for about five minutes, there was our AMERICAN DIPPER, bopping along
the rocks about 30 yards away.

Our next destination would be BUNCHGRASS MEADOWS, which was a must after
reading the tantalizing reports on this and the Inland NW listserves. We
followed the directions in the ABA guide, and noted our mileage as we left
the paved road, heading up Forest Rd. 1935. The first five or six miles of
this dirt road was like a super highway--very well graded and smooth. Then
we came to a confusing array of roads, and assumed (correctly) that the
rougher road that went straight was the one to take. It was bumpy in
places, but passible in our little VW Jetta rental car. We heard some
activity at 8.3 miles from the paved road, and stopped to take note of the
birds. A little spishing brought in YELLOW-RUMPED and NASHVILLE WARBLERs,
and a HAIRY WOODPECKER landed in a tree nearby. A BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK
popped into view, and a HERMIT THRUSH was heard. And then one of the most
esily recognized songs: "Quick, Three Beers." We looked around, and at the
apex of a medium-sized spruce was the little songster, our only OLIVE-SIDED
FLYCATCHER of the trip. Rounding out this stop was a small, large-headed
flycatcher that I took to be a HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER, despite its silence.

Our second stop was at 9.7 miles from the pavement where we were able to
view CASSIN'S VIREO, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET and a flyover VAUX'S SWIFT. And
then we heard chickadees, with a drawl. The rusty flanks and grayish-brown
cap confirmed what I was hoping for--a small flock of BOREAL CHICKADEE, my
first in the lower 48.

Stop 3 was at 10.9 miles, where we noted a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, a female
HAIRY WOODPECKER, and a couple more BOREAL CHICKADEEs. Our final stop was
at 11.5 miles where the road continued, but a prominent gate led to two
trails flanking an open meadow. I assume that this was Bunchgrass Meadows,
but don't know for sure. Sadly, it was birdless, probably because it was
early afternoon. It was pretty with the wild flowers, though.

We descended the mountain, and drove back past Sullivan Lake to get to our
final destination--Mt. Salmo. By the time we made the long climb to the end
of the road it was about 4 p.m. Most of the activity was in the parking
area, where we had at least 20 RED CROSSBILLs entertain us with their
chatter and activity. They were in the company of a few PINE SISKINs and
our only CASSIN'S FINCH of the trip. Hoping for grouse, we took a 40-minute
hike out the 535 trail, which was very birdy, but all of the birds were
CHIPPING SPARROWs and DARK-EYED JUNCOs. On our way down the mountain we had
an unidentified hummingbird, and another flock of Wild Turkey. It was now
time to head back to Spokane, and pack for the trip back west. The day
ended rather blandly, but we had some great birds ahead, with our first
Westport pelagic coming up on Saturday.

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie, MD
dy.dx at earthlink.net