Mike Fleming and I just returned from a 5-day trip to the Okanogan and the Waterville Plateau. We got started on the morning on the 24th, getting into Twisp by about noon. On the 25th, we drove the road up to Sun Mtn Lodge near Winthrop and then birded the Bridgeport/Brewster area. The 26th we spent in the Okanogan Highlands. The day after that, we explored the Conconully area, US20 up to Loup Loup Pass and Cameron Lake Rd. On our last day, 12/28, we drove through the Waterville Plateau before heading back to the west side.

Here the highlights:

-Northern Goshawk (1 adult 4.4mi out Twisp River Rd; 1 immature flyover at Twisp River Pub; both on 12/24)
-Bohemian Waxwing (~25 2.9mi out Twisp River Rd on 12/24; ~30 at Pearrygin Lake SP on 12/24; 50 even along CR153 at MM12 north of Pateros on 12/25; 25 along Bolster Rd north of Chesaw on 12/26; ~300 noisy birds along US20 bout 5.4mi out of Okanogan on 12/27; ~125 on private property along Buzzard Lake Rd on 12/27)
-Evening Grosbeak (~20 along Twisp River Rd on 12/24)
-Pine Grosbeak (15 at Pearrygin SP on 12/24; 13 about 4.2mi up Patterson Lake Rd toward Sun Mtn Lodge on 12/25; 1 heard at Central Ferry Cyn in wooded area near top on 12/25, 10 just NW of Muskat Lake along Havilah Rd on 12/26; 4 near Nealey Rd & Chesaw Rd on 12/26; 7 along Bolster Rd north of Chesaw on 12/26)
-Common Redpoll (~500 about 0.5mi east of where Bear Ck Rd hits E Chewuch Rd north of Winthrop on 12/24; we were not close enough to check for Hoaries)
-Red Crossbill (20 near Patterson Lake Rd & Twin Lakes Rd SE of Winthrop on 12/25; ~15 in flight along FR38 north of Conconully on 12/27)
-Harris's Sparrow (1 continuing bird at the Bridgeport Bar at Moe & Grange on 12/25 - we did not see the American Tree Sparrow reported from there earlier)
-Harlan's Hawk (1 at the Bridgeport Bar near Moe & Grange on 12/25)
-Gyrfalcon (1 brown-phase bird about 1mi NE of Havilah along Havilah-Tonasket Rd on 12/26)
-Snow Bunting (~250 on the east side of Muskrat Lake along Hungry Hollow Rd on 12/26; 16 mixed in with Horned Larks along Rd 8 NW or Sprauer Rd east of Lamoine on 12/28)
-Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch (about 25; both Hepburn's and interior spp at feeder about 0.3mi north of Grange & Hungry Hollow Rd on 12/26)
-American Tree-Sparrow (1 at "Alder Flycatcher spot" along Havilah Rd about 0.3mi south of Teas Rd on 12/26)
-Northern Pygmy-Owl (2 along Chesaw Rd near the intersection with Nealey Rd on 12/26)
-American Dipper (1 at almost entirely frozen-over Beaver Lake SE of Chesaw on 12/26)
-Sharp-tailed Grouse (11 at Scotch Ck WA along Conconully Rd on 12/27; 1 at Foster Unit at the upper spot along Bridgeport Hill Rd - Wells WA on 12/28)
-Lapland Longspur (1 mixed in with Horned Larks and Snow Buntings along Rd 8 NW or Sprauer Rd about 1mi east of Lamoine on 12/28)

Other notes and comments:

-Birding in the Waterville Plateau was very slow and the fog didn't clear up until about 11am on 12/28. The only productive road with lots of Horned Larks was 8 NW east of Lamoine (and west of CR172). We could not find any Long-eared Owls at the known roost sites.
-We had almost no birds at Central Ferry Cyn or Cameron Lake Rd, but we our timing was suboptimal. We essentially dipped on Pygmy Nuthatch. There were 2 couple of birds calling along FR 38 north of Conconully, but didn't get on them. Neither Central Ferry nor Cameron Lake Rd had any for us.
-The Northern Hawk-Owl along Buzzard Lake Rd had not been seen for about a week. Nevertheless we ventured up there, but had no luck in refinding the bird.
-A total of 50 Pine Grosbeak on a winter trip is fantastic. They must have had a great year!
-Crossbills were absent from the Okanogan Highlands even though we checked the known sites carefully.
-Beaver Lake had only 2 tiny water holes, so we did not see any Virginia Rails (like we did last year).
-We had a total of 6 Rough-legged Hawks only; among those 3 in the Okanogan Highlands and 1 single bird on the Waterville Plateau. On the other hand, we had 4 Merlins, 2 Prairie Falcons, a nicely perched-up Golden Eagle along Bear Ck Rd and many Bald Eagles.

Stefan Schlick
Hillsboro, OR

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