Subject: [Tweeters] Trip Report - Waterville Plateau and Okanogan Highlands
Date: Dec 19 21:35:05 2007
From: johntubbs at comcast.net - johntubbs at comcast.net


Hi All,

Here is a more complete trip report of the two-day trip to the Waterville Plateau and Okanogan Highlands taken by Marv Breece, Mason Flint and I on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

We left Snoqualmie early Monday morning after deciding to brave snow in the pass, and the outcome of the trip rewarded the decision to deal with the snow. Tuesday evening and night coming back was a challenge as well - with backcountry roads snow covered, and thick fog in many places - staying on the road required a lot of concentration in what came close to whiteout conditions. If you go to this area this time of year, have an appropriate vehicle, carry chains and take emergency gear.

The trip yielded 46 species, but more importantly we picked up a good percentage of our target birds, while enjoying tremendously beautiful winter conditions.

The trip started auspiciously when we first saw an adult BALD EAGLE in the general vicinity of the Osprey nest near the Cle Elum exit on I-90. Further on, while climbing the west slope of Ryegrass Summit heading toward Vantage, we saw a beautiful GOLDEN EAGLE roosting close to the road on the north side of the freeway. Later in the trip, we came across a place along Highway 97 between Omak and Tonasket where 8 immature Bald Eagles, accompanied by some Black-billed Magpies and numerous Common Ravens, were feeding on something. The following are in taxonomic order, rather than as we saw them sequentially.

NORTHERN HARRIER - We saw more than three of these, with two beautiful adult males.

COOPER'S HAWK - 2 adults seen.
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK - 2 adults seen - surprisingly, we saw no immatures of either Accipiter species.

HARLAN'S RED-TAILED HAWK - 3 great looks, one in Douglas County, two along Havillah Road in Okanogan County.
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK - We counted 41 of these birds in the two days...! You know it's a great trip when you begin to say, "Oh, it's just another Rough-Legged." Because we were on a tight schedule, we actually stopped giving Buteos more than a cursory look in order to focus on finding more target birds. Although there were a few exceptions, the Red-tailed Hawks were typically found at lower elevations, and usually near water. The higher elevations away from water held Rough-legged Hawks primarily.

AMERICAN KESTREL - This bird became routine on the trip as well, with at least 20 seen in various locations.

MERLIN - 2 seen, one roosting in a residential tree in Bridgeport, and a second on the Bridgeport Bar. The second bird was seen late in the afternoon and appeared so dark that we wondered if it might be a Pacific race bird on the east side of the mountains. However, a fortuitous image taken when it flew off showed clearly via the underwing markings that it was a dark-plumaged Taiga. This image can be seen at http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/detail.asp?photoID=5351024&cat=38975.

GRAY PARTRIDGE - A foraging flock of 8 was seen (thanks to the snow covering) while driving by a field near the town of Douglas on Highway 2.

SHARP-TAILED GROUSE - As with the Gray Partridge, the snow conditions certainly aided us in finding this primary target bird, as they were in the trees feeding. Early Tuesday, we found 4 feeding in trees near the intersection of Happy Hill Road and Conconully Road. Later in the day, we spotted another 2 - also in trees feeding - along Mary Ann Creek Road.

GREAT HORNED OWL - At dusk, we found not one, but two of these owls in different locations on Central Ferry Canyon Road near Bridgeport.

NORTHERN SHRIKE - 3 seen. One was near Douglas in Douglas County, 1 sitting on a telephone pole along Havillah Road east of Tonasket in Okanogan County, and 1 further east on Havillah Road from the second bird.

CLARK'S NUTCRACKER - 2 seen on Havillah Road.

AMERICAN TREE SPARROW - At least 5 were seen in a hedgerow by a corn field on Bridgeport Bar. We regretted not having half a day to spend combing this area, as there were many other sparrows to be combed through as well as a huge flock of Red-winged Blackbirds which Marv really wanted to search for a Rusty Blackbird. We had several Western Meadowlarks at this location as well, plus a Cooper's Hawk strafing run that put all the birds down for a few minutes, and one of the male Northern Harriers cruised over here as well.

SNOW BUNTING - There were, as expected, large flocks of Horned Larks feeding and gathering grit by or on the road shoulders at numerous locations. We finally a flock that contained multiple Snow Buntings and got good scope looks at them. This was at the intersection of road F NW off Sprauer Road near Lamoine in Douglas County. We looked thoroughly but in vain along F NW for a Snowy Owl.

RED CROSSBILL - We were becoming somewhat frustrated on Monday at the relative lack of finch flocks to study. Finally on Tuesday morning, Marv spotted a single Red Crossbill at the top of a tree along Havillah Road.

WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS - This was another primary target bird for the trip, and Tuesday morning yielded a flock of 15 birds flying high along Mary Ann Creek Road. Fortunately they landed in the top of a conifer close to the road and we had long and spectacular looks at this flock, which included several striking males.

COMMON REDPOLL - We were getting a little desperate trying to find flocks of Redpolls, but then came across a large flock that we were able to study fairly close for some time. Later that morning we found another flock, joined by more birds while we were watching, numbering at least 200 birds. We had a fantastic opportunity to study these up close, as they worked seed pods in trees literally right by the road for probably a half hour. Try as we might to find a Hoary Redpoll, we reluctantly concluded this was a homogenous flock of Commons. For those who didn't see my first brief post, here is a link to one of the Common Redpoll images - http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/detail.asp?photoID=5347628&cat=38994.

Of course, there were target birds missed. We spent time near Havillah looking fairly thoroughly for a Great Gray Owl with no luck. Despite a great trip for raptors, we did not see Northern Goshawk or Gyrfalcon. But for a quick trip, we had fantastic finds and looks at many of our target birds in spectacularly beautiful winter conditions.

John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net
www.tubbsphoto.com