Thinking that the passage of the rainy cool front on
Friday could better activate birding activity on
Saturday (6/30/07), I opted to bird southeastern
Okanogan and northernwestern Douglas Counties. Indeed,
the rain suppressed the dust on numerous dirt roads
that I traveled, and birds were vociferous though out
the day. Temps ranged from the upper 40's to the high
70's, and the breeze was light.

While I dipped on finding any Grant County Western
Bluebirds in Steamboat Rock State Park, I was
introduced to an extraordinary lovely day. Hiking
around wild currants that were laden with red fruit,
native mock oranges still in bloom, and watching
WHITE-THROATED SWIFTs in their wheeling flight could
hardly be considered a waste of time. Young families
of BULLOCK'S ORIOLEs, WESTERN WOOD PEWEEs and ROCK
WRENs were enjoying the day too. LARK SPARROW, CANYON
WREN, VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW, BANK SWALLOW, were some of
the other summer residents here.

My first birding stop in Okanogan County, was in the
town of Nespelem, While searching out some good
riparian habitat for possible Redstart, Pac-slope
Flycatcher, or Red-eyed Vireo, I discovered an
excellent patch right in the city limits (on
Schoolhouse Loop). Along the Nespelem River there were
magnificent tall Black Cottonwoods, willows, alders,
and a lush understory. When I began exploring the
track along the river, GRAY CATBIRDs were so loud that
it was almost hard to concentrate on other bird songs.
However, VEERY, YELLOW WARBLER, LAZULI BUNTING,
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, and BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK were all
singing their bit. I was almost taken aback to hear
NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH singing in there too.

It was long before a VEERY landed on a stump in full
view. My target RED-EYED VIREO turned out to be a pair
that allowed for a nice visual. I wasn't aware that
Nespelem itself was a hotspot for riparian
specialties, but I was duly impressed.

A few miles to the south, I stopped at bridge crossing
(Columbia River Road) over the Nespelem River that is
located one half mile west of Colville Indian Agency.
Immediately, I heard a BEWICK'S WREN singing from the
roadside shrubbery. A bit of pishing brought out this
cute little guy out for some satisfying visit.

Just a bit farther down the road (near the Y with
Schoolhouse Loop), YELLOW-BREASTED CHATs, BLACK-CAPPED
CHICKADEE, WILLOW FLYCATCHER (one was singing while
perched on low power line), LAZULI BUNTING, and
fledgling BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKs were in evidence. It
seemed that BULLOCK'S ORIOLEs added their orange and
yellow hues to every other tree or shrub.

Due to lack of road signs and a rather confusing map
situation, I spun around the Goose Lake and Goose
Flats area, before figuring out how to cut across
country to the Cameron Lake Loop. While exploring, I
found another YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT (on dirt road that
was south of Goose Lake). The habitat looked good for
my target Chukar, but I didn't find any.

Greenaway Road is often more like a farmer's dirt
track that crosses through plenty of pastures with
cattle, but there was a section of tall grass that
held GRASSHOPPER SPARROWs. A large BANK SWALLOW colony
is located at the junction of Greenaway and Cold
Springs Road.

Arriving at Duley Lake, there was a GRASSHOPPER
SPARROW that was singing from large boulder. A lovely
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD contributed azure to the color
palette of the landscape.

On Duley Lake itself, I scoped the distant waterbirds
and picked out a couple of GREATER YELLOWLEGs in
alternate plumage, RUDDY DUCK, GADWALL, PIED-BILLED
GREBE, RING-BILLED GULL, and heard a SORA.
Surprisingly, there were three SANDHILL CRANES in the
meadow at the north end of the lake.

Although I was hearing plenty of BREWER'S SPARROWs and
VESPER SPARROWs, I hadn't heard any Sage Thrashers.
After attempting a weak imitation of a thrasher song,
I finally spied a SAGE THRASHER that perched up with
food in it's beak. This spot is one and half miles
north of Duley Lake, and is apparently the some site
that the Sullivans and other folks have previously
seen this species.

Later, I visited three alkaline lakes that are known
as Little Soap Lake, Middle Soap Lake (I just so
christened this one), and (Big) Soap Lake.
Little Soap Lake had a nice assortment of ducks such
as REDHEAD, RING-NECKED DUCK, BLUE-WINGED TEAL,
RED-NECKED GREBE, HOODED MERGANSER, GADWALL, AMERICAN
COOT, and
RUDDY DUCK.

The smallest of the three (Middle Soap Lake) had the
best developed mudflats around the shoreline. AMERICAN
AVOCETs, KILLDEER, WILSON'S PHALAROPE, and SPOTTED
SANDPIPERs availed themselves to this excellent
shorebird habitat. I'm sure that migrating shorebirds
will find this site much to their liking.

Since the water level was high and there was little
exposed shoreline,(Big) Soap Lake held very few birds.
There were a few ducks at the north end, but nothing
warranted my unpleasant discovery that the narrow
track along the shore was full of sharp protruding
rocks, had patches of thick brush in and on the sides,
and offered no turn around points until the end.

Following up on the Sullivans report that Loggerhead
Shrikes were present on the southern end of the
Cameron Lake Loop, I ascended the grade from Hwy 97
wit great expectation of finding this key county bird.
As soon as I topped the grade, I was met with the
welcome sight of two LOGGERHEAD SHRIKEs that were
perched in the same bush. Nice!

As the afternoon was growing late, I forewent a visit
to Cassimer Bar and headed straight up Central Ferry
Canyon (Douglas County). Upon arrival, a
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, LAZULI BUNTING, YELLOW WARBLERs,
were calling from in the thickets of the lower canyon.


Searching for Pygmy Short-horned Lizards, I hiked up
several of the dirt tracks in the canyon. Although I
was unable to find any lizards, I did find two Douglas
County lifers (EASTERN KINGBIRD and LARK SPARROW). I
had crippling views of an adult BREWER'S SPARROW
perched beside it's fledgling, a young family of
SPOTTED TOWHEEs, a couple of DUSKY GROUSE, and there
were plenty of VESPER SPARROWs to round things out.

In the pinewoods of the upper canyon, I was under
seige from hungry mosqitoes. Birdwise there were
CASSINS' FINCH, PYGMY NUTHATCH, HOUSE WREN, RED
CROSSBILL, HAIRY WOODPECKER, NO. FLICKER, CHIPPING
SPARROW, and STELLER'S JAY.

At sunset, a COMMON NIGHTHAWK flew over. Mountain
Cottontails and Mule Deer began stirring.

As dusk descended, I drove into Packwood Cemetery.
Perched on a large Packwood Cemetery sign was a
LONG-EARED OWL! The owl began it's hunting sortie, by
flying short distances and then landing in the top of
a tree. The owl was soon joined by it's mate, and the
two owls gave some contented clucking-type sounds
before they both disappeared into the darkness.

Around the same time (9:30 PM), a COMMON POORWILL
began calling. However, the poorwills refused to come
closer to my position. I tried to driving up and down
the canyon and calling, but to no avail. Finally, I
headed back down into the sagebrush at the first road
intersection below the treeline where I was hoping to
see a poorwill on the road.

A Poorwill was indeed calling downslope, After
crashing through some brush and trying to pick up it's
eyeshine with my light, I realized that the bird had
double backed on me. Moving back toward the road, I
picked up the the telltale, ember, orange orbs of the
Poorwill in my torchlight. As it briefly landed on the
road, I had a pretty decent view of the bird. An hour
of intense persistence had paid off in obtaining a
decent visual on this Douglas County lifer.

Simultaneous with nocturnal birding, there was a
remarkable celestial show shining overhead. In the
western sky, Saturn and Venus were situated uncommonly
close together (less than a degree apart). As if this
planetary alignment wasn't impressive enough, there
was a canopy of noctilucent clouds less than ten
degrees above these planets.

This is the only the second time that have seen the
rare and mysterious Noctilucent Clouds. These
extremely high altitude clouds seem to be lit with a
bluish-white colored neon glow. This particular
display lasted for about 45 minutes (9:30-10:15).

Noctilucent Clouds can only be seen a half hour to an
hour after sunset, are in the western sky, and are
normally seen during the summer months at northern
latitudes. The glow of the clouds is reflected light
from the sun that is 6-16 degrees below the horizon.
The overall appearance is that of blue-white tendrils.

All in all, I felt that I had an incredible day. Aside
from adding six county lifers for Okanogan County, and
four county lifers for Douglas County, I was
enthralled by the sights of Poorwill and Long-eared
Owls, and dazzled by Noctilucent Clouds and perfectly
aligned planets. As a finale, my return drive was
well lit by a an engaging full moon.

Isn't birding grand?

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA



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