Hi Tweets!

I had a rather mediocre, but relaxing, 2-day birding trip to the Okanogan Highlands and the Waterville Plateau. More effort was needed to find the birds on this early winter trip. The nice, clear weather somewhat dampened birding activity as well.

With surprisingly little snow cover in the valley, caused the winter birds to disperse to wider areas or remain in higher elevations that are unaccessible to birders. For instance, pine grosbeaks being able to still feed on uncovered cone/seed crop at higher elevations and the sharp tailed grouse feeding more on the uncovered ground or out of view in higher rolling hills. No crossbills, pine siskins, or evening grosbeaks were seen.

More data will come in from CBC and we will see how it all pans out. So this can be an inaccurate generalization on my part--only a speculation with no substantive data.

It is still an early winter, the area is vast, and these nomadic birds can be tough to pin down. I am not surprised that I missed Stefan, Michael, or the Kempers in the field. We are only a small handful of birders besides the locals covering these large, winter grounds. We will see what unfolds.

Highlights of the trips were the owls and spending Christmas with some local Hippies in Hee-haw Chesaw. It was quite ORGANIC and SWELL. I never thought I would get such a BUZZ from Organic Hemp Milk:)

The Magical Okanogan never fails to delight your soul and mind!

*************Bird Report*********************

2 Short eared Owl (Molson Rd-Okanogan Highlands)
2 SNOWY OWL ((Bridgeport Hill Rd-Waterville Plateau)
2 GREAT GRAY OWL (Okanogan Highlands)
6 Great Horned Owl (Okanogan Highlands and Manfield)
2 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL (Bridgeport State Park)
4 NORTHERN PYGMY OWL (Bolster Rd and Chesaw Rd)
6 SHARP TAILED GROUSE (Mary Ann Creek Rd)
10 GRAY PATRIDGE (Havillah Rd)
12 Chukar (Fancher Rd)
2 Golden Eagle (Riverside Cut-off Rd)
2 NORTHERN GOSHAWK (Nealy Rd)
4 GYRFALCON (Near Jameson Lake Mansfield and Hwy 17)
6 Prairie Falcon (Waterville Plateau and Conconully)
2 Merlins (Withow)
2 THREE TOED WOODPECKER (near Dry Gulch Rd)
12 Northern Shrike (Okanogan Highlands and Waterville Plateau)
204 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS (Conconully and Nealy Rd)
6 AMERICAN TREE SPARROW (Conconully and Havillah Rd)
1400 SNOW BUNTINGS (400 birds Hwy 2 East of Douglas )
4 LAPLAND LONGSPUR (H NE along Hwy 17)
120 GRAY CROWNED ROSYFINCHES (Nealy Rd and Hungry Hollow Rd)
24 PINE GROSBEAK (Mary Ann Creek Rd)
800 COMMON REDPOLL (Throughout Okanogan Highland-largest flock 300 birds)

Sorry for the 'odd' numbers, I dropped my binoculars at the beginning of my trip. I had to cut my trip short since they were ineffective and I saw double images of feathered friends. So almost everything on the above list is divisible by 2:)

PEACE OUT and Happy New Year!

Khanh Tran (Portland, Oregon)
www.ktbirding.com