This is combined report on two different outings in
the northeastern counties. With the heavy snowpack,
the weather has been chilly but the temps have hovered
a little over freezing wth patchy fog.

On Friday (2/09/07), Michael Woodruff, Kim Thorburn,
and I birded a loop that extended through Pend
Oreille, Stevens, and extreme northeastern Ferry
Counties. Along the way, we ran into Terry Little and
enjoyed a large flock of swirling Redpolls together.

Our morning began, trying to coax out Barred Owl in
the Deer Valley of southern Pend Oreille County.
Failing that, we were pleased to see our first bird of
the day, a NORTHERN GOSHAWK. A minute later, a flock
of PINE SISKINs flew over.

As we cruised up Scotia Valley, we heard Redpolls
didn't obtain a visual on them. East of Newport (near
Sitton Road), we saw a beautiful dark morph HARLAN'S
HAWK (Redtail). Traveling up Leclerc Creek Road
(northwest of Newport), we were impressed with the
large quantity of waterfowl. While AMERICN COOTS,
REDHEADS, both LESSER & GREATER SCAUP, RING-NECKED
DUCK, MALLARD, CANADA GEESE AMERICAN WIGEON,
predominated, there were also HOODED & COMMON
MERGANSERs, CANVASBACK, GADWALL, and a GREAT BLUE
HERON. Near Furport, we saw a RUFFED GROUSE and a
TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE. Of course, there were several
BALD EAGLEs and small bands of WILD TURKEYs along the
river as well.

Near the junction of CeeCee Ah Road and Leclerc Creek
Road, we observed 120+ COMMON REDPOLLs. The flock was
initially sighted on the shoulder of the road, but
quickly took flight in a wild erratic fashion.

Following up on a hot lead on eastern Blue Jay from
from some bird friendly folks south of Ione, we
cruised Graham Road. This area is particularly birdy,
and we quickly found EVENING GROSBEAK - 15, PINE
GROSBEAK - 1, HAIRY WOODPECKER, NORTHERN FLICKER,
CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE,
BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET,
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, and a COMMON REDPOLL within a
mixed flock of AMERICAN GOLDFINCHes and PINE SISKINs.

On the corner of the second 90 degree turn, we saw a
STELLER'S JAY. While scanning the bare-limbed larch, I
saw a second jay. It was in fact, a BLUE JAY. The Blue
Jay and Steller's hung very close together for a
while, and then more Steller's Jays flew into the
conifers. While enjoying the jay spectacle and
savoring our PO County lifer, Michael was able to
capture the Blue Jay on video.

Afterwards, we headed across the Little Pend Oreille
Highlands on Hwy 20 and made an attempt for Three-toed
Woodpeckers. Although we found some fresh looking bark
scaling, we didn't see any woodpeckers. Our
consolation was seeing two MOOSE (one cow and a
yearling) trotting through the snowy woods.

Pushing into the later afternoon, we did some birding
along the Kettle River in Ferry County. En route, we
spied a NORTHERN SHRIKE west of Colville.

Since the name on the railroad trestle clearly
designates the community on the Ferry County side of
the Hwy 20 bridge crossing as West Kettle Falls, I
will use this name in my reports. The confusion on
the town name is due to it being marked as "Harter" in
DeLorme, but it is sometimes alternately referred to
as Barney's Junction (named for the centerpiece
storefront).

Anyway, in "West Kettle Falls", there was a glorious
flock of 400 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS. The Bohemians flitted
around the abundant Mt. Ash berries like a swarms, of
synchronized gray butterflies. The charming activities
of these these highly social birds are almost hypnotic
to watch .

On Kamloops Island, part of Lake FDR Nat. Recreation
Area, we saw HOODED MERGANSERs and HORNED GREBES in
both Ferry & Stevens Counties. Both of these species
were Ferry County lifers for us.

In Barstow, there was a RUFFED GROUSE placidly eating
buds off a Red Osier Dogwood. This attractive
chicken-of-the woods afforded great views and photo
ops.

In the rapidly fading light, we manged to once again
see the WHITE-WINGED SCOTER that has been wintering on
Colville Flats (mouth of the Colville River-Stevens
County). On this occasion, there were no gulls were
present on the sandbars

We made it as far north as Orient, but we couldn't
locate any Redpolls or Merlins. Since we were having
such a good day, I lobbied for owling in Rail Canyon
(southern Stevens County). Fortunately, my die hard
birder companions agreed, and we began owling in the
dark, fog enshrouded forest.

Following Terry Little's excellent directions to a
couple of the better spots, we called in both WESTERN
SCREECH OWL and NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL. We obtained
great visuals on both of these cute little owls.

Our owling success was a terrific conclusion to a
highly productive day!

On an earlier trip (2/06/07), Craig & Judy Corder and
I birded on a sunnier day. Some of the birds of
interest included:

Hawk Creek Canyon - Lincoln County:
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, PYGMY
NUTHATCH, BROWN CREEPER, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, COOPER'S
HAWK, RED-TAILED HAWK, NO. RAVEN, PRAIRIE FALCON,
RED-WINGED BLACK-BIRD, HOUSE FINCH, and STELLER'S JAY.

Hawk Creek Falls - Lincoln County:
COMMON GOLDENEYE, BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, TUNDRA SWAN,
GADWALL, MALLARD, CANADA GOOSE, HOODED MERGANSER,
BUFFLEHEAD, AMERICAN DIPPER, and BALD EAGLE.

Seven Bays - Lincoln County
AMERICAN & BARROW'S GOLDENEYEs, HORNED GREBE,
PIED-BILLED GREBE

Ft. Spokane - Lincoln County:
PRAIRE FALCON, PINE GROSBEAK - 20+ (one was a nice
russet type), PYGMY NUTHATCH, RED CROSSBILL

Hunters to Hunters Campground on Lake FDR, Stevens
County:
MT. & BC Chickadees, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, RED
CROSSBILL, BALD EAGLE, BROWN CREEPER, RED-TAILED HAWK,
NORTHERN SHRIKE, TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, RED-BREASTED &
PYGMY NUTHATCH, GREATER SCAUP, CANADA GOOSE, HERRING
GULL, COMMON GOLDENEYE, BUFFLEHEAD, HORNED GREBE.

east flank of Huckleberry Mountain - Stevens County
NORTHERN PYGMY OWL

Camas Valley - Stevens County
NORTHERN SHRIKE

Good winter birding to all!

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA



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