Hi all,

I spent about 4 hours in the Okanogan Highlands today and saw some good stuff (more on that in the next post). My first stop was the Snow Park near Havillah. On the way out when I was just getting to the last meadow before the road, there was a large bird flying into the trees to the west. I could not relocate it and so my hope of seeing a Great Gray Owl there were lost.

Next, I headed for some private property between Havillah and Chesaw where a co-worker of mine saw a large owl about five weeks ago. Khahn Tran told me that he has seen Great Gray Owls along the road there, so I was hopeful that today would be my lucky day. After hiking up to the area where she said that the Owls hung out (she has seen them there since she was a child), I finally gave up and started heading back to the car. That is when I found the possible carcass.

Photos and more details here: http://birdphotosonline.com/great-gray-owl-carcass. Let me know what you think.

Khanh told me that I would never forget my first encounter with a Great Gray and I'm afraid mine was more memorable than I would like.

Ron McCluskey
Cheney, WA
rmcclsky at mindspring dot com