Taking advantage of the recent sunny, dry cold period,
Kim Thorburn and I did a birding loop through western
Stevens, northern Ferry, eastern Okanogan, northern
Douglas, and northwestern Grant Counties. Both the
road conditions and the birding was quite good.

On Friday (1/26/07), we cut through the icy fog that
had enveloped the Spokane and West Plains for the last
week. Above Ft. Spokane, we finally broke out into
glorious sunshine. En route, we saw one NORTHERN
SHRIKE and a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK north of Davenport
(Lincoln Co.).

At Ft. Spokane, we heard distant Pine Grosbeaks and
Red Crossbills, but we did not see the large flocks
that have been recently reported. Fortunately, I
picked up my Stevens County lifer Pine Grosbeak in the
famous Gifford Campground. Along the park entrance
road, there was a pair of PINE GROSBEAKs feeding in
the Ponderosa Pines. One bird was a very attractive
adult male.

As we continued north on Hwy 25, we noticed plenty of
ice on FDR Lake, but there were open sections of water
too. Near Daisy, we spied a PILEATED WOODPECKER on a
young aspen tree.

On the ridge above Bradbury Beach, there was a GOLDEN
EAGLE perched on top of a Ponderosa Pine. When the
eagle glided off it's perch, a Red-tailed Hawk,
screeched and pursued it.

The most productive spot was at Colville Flats. This
is a signed, public access area at the south end of
the mouth of the Colville River. This site has an
excellent vantage of the large sand bars where gulls
roost, as well as great waterfowl viewing from a 270
degree radius.

Surprisingly, one of the first birds to pop up for us
was the WHITE-WINGED SCOTER that had been previously
reported a couple of weeks ago. This bird is a first
year female that shows off the white secondaries. The
scoter was easily viewed on the inlet north of the
parking lot.

Other birds of interest around Colville Flats included
HERRING GULLs, Ring-billed Gulls HORNED GREBE, EARED
GREBE, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead,
Pied-billed Grebe, Common Merganser, and Common
Goldeneye.

At Meyers Falls, we found two AMERICAN DIPPERS ice
fishing. Meyers Falls is probably the surest bet for
seeing Dippers in Stevens County.

After dipping on our target Redpolls along Westside
Valley Road, we headed back west and crossed the
Columbia River into Ferry County. In the past, I have
had good luck birding in the river community of
Harter. Recalling, that I had seen Cedar Waxwings in
Mt. Ash trees in this town, I was hoping for Bohemians
this time around.

As we pulled down the lane, we quickly found the
following birds in the Mt. Ash trees: PINE GROSBEAK -
8, BOHEMIAN WAXWING - 14, VARIED THRUSH - 2, and
American Robin - 7. Just like last summer, there were
loud barking dogs to greet us too.

After dinner, Kim and I tried some owling on Sherman
Pass. Unfortunately, we only experienced a frosty
silence. Most of the forest around the accessible road
pull outs seemed to be made up of Lodgepole Pine
rather than the Subalpine Fir/Englemann Spruce climax
forest that I normally associated with Boreal Owl.
Does anyone know the specific sites that have produced
Boreal Owls on Sherman Pass?

Realizing that I still needed Wild Turkey for Ferry
County, I was pleased to hear from the Klondike Motel
proprietor in Republic that turkeys show up in the
motel parking lot between 7 and 7:30 AM. On a clear,
but near zero Saturday morning (1/27/07), I opened the
door at 7:25 AM and saw a large flock of WILD TURKEYs
literally stop traffic and then cross the motel
parking lot! A couple of bemused Mule Deer tagged
along behind the flock of turkeys.

As Kim and I drove around the residential area of
Republic, we saw small flocks of PINE GROSBEAKs,
EVENING GROSBEAKs - 5, PYGMY NUTHATCH, RED-BREASTED
NUTHATCH, RED CROSSBILL, HOUSE FINCH, RED-WINGED
BLACKBIRD, AMERICAN CROW, BOHEMIAN WAXWING - 1,
NORTHERN RAVEN, and GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETs.

Although the Republic STP lagoons are frozen over, we
ran into a flock of RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, PYGMY
NUTHATCHES, GC KINGLETS, MT. CHICKADEEs, and a BROWN
CREEPER. Northward on Hwy 21, we saw our first Ferry
County NORTHERN SHRIKE at Karamin, a flock of CLARK'S
NUTCRACKERs and a BALD EAGLE at Malo. About a mile
north of Malo, we saw a lone HORNED LARK.

In the town of Curlew, we DOWNY WOODPECKER, HAIRY
WOODPECKER, NO. FLICKER, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEEs,
BUFFLEHEAD, MALLARD, and COMMON GOLDENEYE.

West of Curlew on the West Kettle River Road, we
encountered COMMON MERGANSER - 2, BARROW'S GOLDENEYE -
1 female, RUFFED GROUSE - 2, BALD EAGLE - 6, and two
AMERICAN DIPPERs. On the return route, we detoured a
bit onto Aeneas Creek Road and found another Ruffed
Grouse and a Northern Shrike.

Although we failed to find Rough-legged Hawk or No.
Harrier around West Curlew Lake Road, we did run into
more PINE GROSBEAKs and a couple of RED-TAILED HAWKs.
When we returned to Republic, we searched for Merlins
and Redpolls but didn't find any.

However, some gals in a local espresso shop informed
us about some bird feeders hosted by the Andersons on
1078 S. Keller Road. When we arrived at this address,
the place was swarming with birds. From the look of
the feeders, I would assume that the Andersons are
birders, but we never had a chance to meet them. At
the property, there were DOWNY WOODPECKER, HAIRY
WOODPECKER, CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, STELLER'S JAY,
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, HOUSE FINCH, HOUSE SPARROW,
SLATE-COLORED & OREGON JUNCOs.

I heard a high pitched sparrow call note that didn't
quite match a Song Sparrow. As I looked into the
evergreen understory on the edge of the yard, I saw a
tan striped morph WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. For several
minutes, Kim and I enjoyed excellent views of this
first Ferry County record of White-throated Sparrow.
Although we never actually saw it come to the feeders,
this bird seems to prefer staying low in the
understory, and it would call occasionally.

Pushing westward into Okanogan County, we entered much
more open county of scattered pine trees and
sagebrush. Near the northern terminus of Aeneas
Vallley Road, we saw NORTHERN SHRIKE and a NORTHERN
PYGMY OWL. In the shrub-steppe terraine of Wagonroad
Coulee (south of Tonasket), we saw yet another NO.
PYGMY OWL that was perched on a sign along the
highway.

Although we made a late afternoon attempt for Chukars
and ST Grouse on Riverside Cutoff and Conconully
Roads, we didn't see any. We regrouped and spent the
night in Omak.

On Sunday morning (1/28/07), we saw a couple or
GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCHES fly over the Riverside
Cutoff Road. Later, we had a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK
perched on a power pole on Conconully Road.

Upon arrival at Scotch Creek U Bar U Ranch overlook, I
immediately detected eight SHARP-TAILED GROUSE feeding
in the Water Birch. The grouse were present from at
least 9-9:30 AM, and afforded excellent scope views in
good light. This made a worthy view of a life bird for
Kim.

Entering Conconully State Park, we soon found a BROWN
CREEPER and EVENING GROSBEAKs. Across the street from
the park entrance, there was an active bird feeder
that was attracting large numbers of PINE SISKIN,
EVENING GROSBEAKs, HOUSE FINCH, BLACK-CAPPED
CHICKADEE, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, CALIFORNIA QUAIL, and
STELLER'S JAYs.

As we surveyed the residential area, we turned up a
TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, PYGMY NUTHATCHES, CLARK'S
NUTCRACKER, and a brief view of NORTHERN GOSHAWK. No
doubt the Gos was interested in the town quail.

Since we wanted to find Chukars for Okanogan County,
we slowly worked Riverside Cutoff road. Although we
never saw this target bird, we did have excellent
views of a pair of GOLDEN EAGLES perched on a snag up
a craggy ridge to the south. On Riverside Cutoff, a
first year Golden Eagle actually dive bombed an adult
BALD EAGLE!.

On the sunny side rocky escarpment, we coaxed out a
CANYON WREN. To our surprise, we saw five WESTERN
BLUEBIRDs here too. Considering the cold winter that
we have had, this seems like an unusually early date
for this species. This area is on Riverside Cutoff
Road between the intersection of Conconully Road and
Johnson Creek Road.

Later in the afternoon, we tried to refind some of the
great birds that the Sullivans had reported on
Washburn Island. En route, we saw a MERLIN in Omak.
Unfortunately, we washed out on Washburn Island. Aside
the large numbers of White-crowned Sparrows and a
couple of Song Sparrows,
we never saw the Harris's Sparrow, Red-breasted
Merganser, or the Bewick's Wren. At least, we did see
the flock of COMMON REDPOLLS.

Since we were running out of daylight, we took a
chance on finding a Gyrfalcon for Kim on Dyer Hill
Road in Douglas County. On the plateau, the only birds
that we saw were Horned Larks and Red-tailed Hawks.

Fortunately, we did score one nice Douglas County
lifer. Around 5:15 PM on Hwy 174 (east of Leahy), Kim
spotted an owl on a fence post. After stopping, we
gazed into the liquid yellow eyes of a SHORT-EARED
OWL. Since we saw two more Short Eared Owls east of
the junction with Del Rio road, this might just be a
winter hot spot for this well sought after species.

After dark, we parked in the snowy parking lot of
Northrup Canyon. Our quarry was Saw-whet Owl. Although
we worked the canyon over diligently, we failed to
elicit a single peep out of any Saw-whets. There were
a couple of distant toots, that might have actually
been a Pygmy Owl, but we weren't sure.

However, we did see a LONG-EARED OWL flush and fly
overhead. Later, we heard one Long-eared hoot a few
times from up the hillside, and another delivered some
weird squealing sounds. At least the Long-eared Owls
provided us with an interesting trip finale.

Our final trip tally netted me six county lifers for
Stevens County, ten county lifers for Ferry County,
four county lifers for Okanogan County, and one county
lifer for Douglas County. Kim picked up one ABA lifer
(Sharp-tailed Grouse), and we both enjoyed a marvelous
winter birding experience.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA



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