Due to an optimistic weather forecast, I felt rather
confident that there would be a fair weather window
for last Friday afternoon and evening in the Republic
area. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Moderate
showers (rain in the lowlands and snow above 5000
feet) persisted through out the evening.

Even more troubling, was that in contrast to calm
conditions in Republic, the wind on Sherman Pass was
ripping through the tree tops at a speed of 20+ mph.
As I led my friends(Patricia Lott, Alan Lincoln, and
Kim Thorburn) up Albian Hill Road to an area that I
wanted to work for Boreal & Great Gray Owls, I was
turning quite dour on our prospects for finding
anything.

At a sedge meadow that was lined with montane
conifers, the snowfall was heavy enough to completely
obscure our vision. There wasn't any chance of
spotting Great Grays that evening.

While I futilely played the IPOD track for Boreal Owl,
the wind continued it's relentless assault on our
party. Giving up on my prime location, we drove back
down Albian Hill and we stopped just shy of the
junction with Hwy. 20. Since this section of the road
was much more sheltered from the wind, we tried owling
again. Just as we were about to give up and leave, we
heard the skiew call of Boreal Owl! In fact, the owl
called two more times. Even though, we weren't able to
obtain a visual on it, I thanked our lucky stars that
we actually heard this elusive creature under such
adverse conditions.

The next morning (9/29/07), we worked Albian Hill Road
again. This time our primary quarry was White-winged
Crossbill. While we never found WW Crossbill, we did
see a couple of AMERICAN PIPITS, three WHITE-CROWNED
SPARROWS, PINE SISKIN, RED CROSSBILL, MT. CHICKADEE,
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, HERMIT
THRUGH, PILEATED WOODPECKER, DE JUNCONs, GRAY JAYS,
and CLARK'S NUTCRACKERs.

Overall, birds were few and far between. We had to
content ourselves with enjoying some of the colorful,
early autumn foliage, as well as experiencing the
first light dusting of snow of the season.
Nonetheless, hearing a Boreal Owl was certainly a
thrill for all of us.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA


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