Fourteen of us from TAS spent the past weekend in Okanogan with good results
for the period.
We started at Elk Hts. burn, where we dipped on the BB woodpeckers, although
3 weeks ago
they were at the nest hole. Continuing north, 1/2 mile south of Wells dam
we were pleasantly
surprised to find an adult Sabine's Gull working the outflow from the dam.
We watched for 10
minutes as it worked the river not quite believing what we were seeing.
There were also 3 C.
Loons between the dam and Pateros.


At the Cassimer Bar we dipped on the Least Flycatcher. Soap Lk. rd yielded
3 Grasshopper Sp.,
with another 1/ 2 miles sw. of Duley Lk. On Cameron Lk. loop, RNapped
Sapsucker, Hairy and White-Headed woodpeckers were interacting at one stop.
There was also 1 Gray Flycatcher.

Day 2 started at Aeneas rd., no Bobolinks, and the creek area produced
little. 8 Red Crossbills
were along Bonaparte Lk. rd, with 3 more at Lost Lk. 2 Common Goldeneye
were on Little
Beaver Lk. At Lost Lk. cg. a pair of Williamson's Sapsuckers and a pair of
C. Loon with 2 young.

In the Chesaw area, 2 Swainson's Hawks in Hungry Hollow area with 6 Greater
Yellowlegs and
8 Least Sanpipers and 1 C. Goldeneye on Muskrat Lk. Sidley Lk. was empty
except for 2 Red-
Necked Grebes and Coots. Teal Lk. area was productive. 2 female
Buffleheads, 3 C. Godeneyes,
3 Red-Naped Sapsuckers and singing Ruby-Crowned Kinglets. 1 Pygmy Owl on
Mary Ann Ck. rd.

We cruised the roads near Havillah and owled past the 4th cattleguard.
Could only come up with
2 G. Horns and 4 Saw-Whet owls.

We headed up through Loomis finding a Swainson's Hawk on the way. Toats
Coulee had the
usual Bobolinks and Lewis' Woodpeckers. At Long Swamp we found a pair of
Lincoln Sp. and
2 Ruby-Crowns singing. The road opened saturday. Gone are the forest,
Tripod ripped through
the area destroying most areas except meadows. We managed 2 BB Woodpeckers
and later
above Smarty Ck. 2 Three-Toed. At Tiffany Sps., 1 Boreal Chickadee, with
several singing R.C. King
lets. Surprised me a little, the kinglets were all very vocal at least 6
were in the lower branches
of burnt Lodgepoles on dry slopes with no water in the immediate vicinity.

FR39 is devoid, it should be good for woodpeckers for several years now as
Tripod was last year.
I was struck by the traffic. They are logging in the area and the roads are
completely over-run
with mushroomers, commerical I believe. There were probably 30 carloads
many with 4 occupants,
each with his own backback barrel and bucket. I was also surprised by the
number of R-C Kinglets
seen and heard on the trip and the location of several. On 3 previous trips
kinglets were in short
supply, all on this trip were singing vociferiously, about 10 in all.

Ken Brown
kennethwbrown at hotmail.com
Port Orchard, Wa.

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