Hello All,

This is a belated and brief trip report to NE Washington (Pend Oreille,
Stevens & Ferry counties)from Labor Day weekend. I apologize for the
tardiness and the brevity but kids and work have taken priority since
my return late Monday night.

I departed Saturday morning, September 1st on my now annual exercise in
futility to try to cross paths with the last "regular" species that I have
yet to see in Washington State - the White-winged Crossbill. Well, the
futility continues as I, once again, did not find the #$%&! crossbill. I
did, however, have a great trip to one of most beautiful areas of the state.
The weather was outstanding and, despite not finding the crossbill I had
some very nice birds. Here are just a few of the highlights:

I birded Togo Mountain, Ferry County on the 2nd of September. There was
nothing too unusual here but the birding was quite good with most of the
regulars well-represented including numerous RED CROSSBILLS, WESTERN
TANAGERS, CHIPPING SPARROWS etc. PINE SISKINS, seemingly absent from the
state (or at least greatly reduced in numbers) for a couple of years were
abundant at all of the sites throughout the weekend.

On the 3rd, I birded the Salmo Pass area where highlights included a
pair of SPRUCE GROUSE at the last hairpin curve before Salmo Pass, a
young PINE GROSBEAK about halfway between the curve and the end of the
road at Salmo Pass. BOREAL CHICKADEES were at this site in good numbers
as well. Probably the most unusual and surprising sighting of the
weekend occurred at Salmo Pass at 5,000+ feet when I saw a female
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK which was undoubtedly a migrant. I have seen
unusual movements of migrating warblers at this locale before but I must
say that this sighting was quite a surprise.

Bunchgrass Meadows, which I checked once on the 2nd and once on the 3rd,
was rather slow but the habitat appears to be excellent for boreal
species. I was not there at the best times of day which most likely
contributed to the slow birding.

Cheers and good birding and please keep those White-winged Crossbill reports
coming in.

Ted Kenefick
Seattle, Washington
tgkenefick at msn.com