Hi Tweeters!

Melanie Phillips and I had birded the Wallowas in NE Oregon this weekend and it was by far my most successful trip in terms of getting tough-to-find boreal and target specialities in this amazing area. This is one of my favorite birding areas in Oregon and all the extensive scouting in the past few years has rewarded me today.

It looks like it is going to be an interesting winter in the Wallowas. On this trip, I had my largest PINE GROSBEAK flock of 25 birds, several parties of WHITE WINGED CROSSBILLS in two different locations, and a large fall gathering of 200 GRAY-CROWNED ROSYFINCHES. We were also thrilled to see three GREAT GRAY OWL in three different locations! These big bags of gray feathers never fail to impress.

A) SPRING CREEK Exit 248 off 1-84 East (near LaGrande, Oregon)

We started out our trip with one GREAT GRAY OWL near Deadman Pass Rest Area at night and found another Great Gray at Spring Creek in the early morning hours. There were also two NORTHERN PYGMY OWLS along the road to Kalema.

B) MCCULLY CREEK (near Joseph, Oregon)

Before we got to the trailhead, we had two GRAY-CROWNED ROSYFINCHES right along the gravel road. I was surprised it was almost snow-free where we birded.

This was the most productive spot on our trip. My lucky chicken charm brought out two DUSKY, one RUFFED, and one adult male SPRUCE GROUSE that was partly displaying on a branch. Also, two more female SPRUCE GROUSE were found feeding in the larch trees.

While looking for sprucies, I spotted one female PINE GROSBEAK feeding on the fallen larch needles on the ground. It immediately flushed up high. As I poorly attempted to imitiate it's call, it responded back and immediately drew in a flock of ten birds. Minutes pass and 15 more PINE GROSBEAKS joined in. The two small groups were busy feeding high in two larch trees side by side.

As we watched these beautiful birds feed for 20 minutes or so, a small flock of WHITE WINGED CROSSBILLS flew by and landed in another larch tree. They loudly emitted their electric "chet, chet" calls. To me, is not as strident and with more of an inflection than the Red Crossbills. The group also let out a redpoll-like "chut, chut, chut" call while feeding. Just so cool as these are moments that I cherished most.

Up along the McCully Creek trail, two male WHITE WINGED CROSSBILLS were also seen feeding on the fresh horse dung. Eventually, one male flushed and landed about 15 feet above our heads!

One AMERICAN THREE TOE WOODPECKER, several CASSIN'S FINCHES, and one SNOWSHOE HARE were also in the surrounding area. On our way, out we found a couple of ROUGH LEGGED HAWKS, one PRAIRIE FALCON, and one NORTHERN SHRIKE near the open fields.

C) HATPOINT (elevation around 6800 ft near Imnaha, Oregon)

Surprisingly there was little snow at top. Despite some foggy and misty conditions, we were able to hear and see at least two small flocks of WHITE WINGED CROSSBILLS. One flock consisted of at least a dozen birds. Interestingly, they never associated with the more conspicous flocks of RED CROSSBILLS that were also in the area.

Closer to the lookout, we had a large flock of 200 plus GRAY CROWNED ROSYFINCHES near the landing strip. They contained both the Hepburn's and Interior form. The spumoni birds reminded me of a large swarm of blowing autumn leaves as they busily fed in the lightly covered snowy meadow and flushed with rapidity into the distance.

We found our third GREAT GRAY OWL about 2.5 miles before the Hat Point Lookout in the open meadow. This is the second time I have seen these forest phantoms at this high elevation of 6800 ft. The burn area looks promising for Northern Hawk Owls.

On our way out, we had one adult NORTHERN GOSHAWK and four DUSKY GROUSE along the 24 mile stretch. A small group of CHUKARS were found along the paved road to Imnaha.

D) GOLF COURSE RD (Enterprise, Oregon)

A quick drive along this open road produced 3 LAPLAND LONGSPURS among the small flocks of HORNED LARKS, and one AMERICAN TREE SPARROW in the brushy weeds. Two more NORTHERN SHRIKES were seen.

Shortly before dusk, we flushed a small flock of GRAY PATRIDGES and saw two 2 SHORT EARED OWLS along this productive, country road.

Since we got our targets surprisingly early and didn't expect to do that well, I decided to spend most of Sunday at the Northwest part of Mt. Adams near Takhlakh and Horseshoe Lake.

E) MT ADAMS (NW end close to Takhlakh and Horseshoe Lk)

Not very birdy as it lightly misted off and on, but we managed to find one BLACK BACKED WOODPECKER near Killian Creek Trail, one AMERICAN THREE TOE at Horseshoe Lake, and three PINE GROSBEAKS at Takh Takh Meadows.

Nausea for some of you, but got to love my SPRUCE GROUSE. We successfully found a total of seven birds consisting of 3 Adults (1M:2F) and 4 Subadults (3M:1F). Three SOOTIES and a pair of RUFFED GROUSE finished the tally for forest chickens along FR2329.

We also saw a FLYING SQUIRREL near Takhlakh Lake. At first I thought it was a bird. Time to have my eyes check or I am not sharing what I smoke on my down time:) It was way cool!

I managed to snap a few embarassing and dismal photos for documentation. Birds were for the most part high up and not cooperative. A fun time was had and always a pleasure to get new lifers for a new birder!

http://www.pbase.com/spruce_grouse/recent_photos&page=all

You cannot have a bad time in the WOW-allowa!!

Good birding,

Khanh Tran (Portland, Oregon)