I have uploaded a few images from the recent Douglas/Okanogan trip with John Tubbs, Mason Flint and Evan Houston. Evan's images ( http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/gallery.asp?cat=108053 ) take the prize. I'll toss in a few mediocre images for good measure ( http://www.pbase.com/marvbreece/new_images_of_washington_birds ).


Marv Breece
Seattle, WA
mbreece at earthlink.net



----- Original Message -----
From: johntubbs at comcast.net
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 12:32 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Okanogan Highlands and Waterville Plateau Trip Report -plus Images


Hi everyone,

This is the second installment (non-owl species) of the Jan 10-12 trip taken by Marv Breece, Mason Flint, Evan Houston and me to the Waterville Plateau and Okanogan Highlands.

The trip was outstanding, with around 80 species seen from door-to-door and many of the winter target species seen, and some seen excellently. Following are highlight species and where seen (locations are per my memory, I was the driver and so was unable to write detailed notes - if I miss one badly, one of the other guys will correct me). If you are interested in some great digiscoped photos of some of the better species seen, please click on the link at the end of this post.

SHARP-TAILED GROUSE - Seen in trees early in the morning just south of Conconully Road and Happy Hill Road, on both sides of the road. As noted in the previous post, one bird was in the same tree as a roosting Great Horned Owl.

RAPTORS - Not counting owls or Northern Shrike, we saw eleven raptor species. These included: BALD EAGLE (many); NORTHERN HARRIER; SHARP-SHINNED HAWK; COOPER'S HAWK; NORTHERN GOSHAWK (one well-seen adult flew over the meadow area along the Havillah Sno-Park access road early in the morning while we were watching - unsuccessfully - for Great Gray Owl); RED-TAILED HAWK (many); ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK; GOLDEN EAGLE (2 seen - don't remember location of the first one; second one perched on a pole along the Cameron Lake Road loop); AMERICAN KESTREL (many); MERLIN (surprisingly only one seen, in Bridgeport); PRAIRIE FALCON (on Waterville Plateau - can't remember specific road name).

EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE and MOURNING DOVE - both seen in Waterville.

OWLS - as in first report, GREAT-HORNED OWL (7); NORTHERN PYGMY OWL (2); LONG-EARED OWL; SHORT-EARED OWL. Unsuccessfully searched thoroughly for a Northern Saw-whet Owl in Bridgeport State Park and a Great Gray Owl at Havillah Sno-Park. One of the few stretches of road we did not cover was the part of Highway 17 where the Northern Hawk Owl was reported in a post yesterday.

BELTED KINGFISHER - one apparently healthy bird sitting on a wire along Bolster Road in Chesaw. Considering almost every bit of water in the highlands was frozen over, we were wondering if this bird was of the icebreakerii subspecies.

WOODPECKERS - We had five species of woodpecker, DOWNY (Bridgeport), HAIRY (Havillah and Cameron Lakes Road), NORTHERN FLICKER, PILEATED and WHITE-HEADED (found in the Ponderosa Pine section along Cameron Lakes Road).

NORTHERN SHRIKE - Multiple seen at various locations.

NUTHATCHES - In an amazing situation I've never seen before, I had all three species of nuthatch (Red-breasted; White-breasted and PYGMY) in the same tree at the same time, less than fifty feet away. This was in the Ponderosa Pine stretch along Cameron Lakes Road. There was an amazing number of nuthatches (and other birds, see below) vocalizing while we birded along this stretch of road.

TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE - Perhaps the rarest find of all was two TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE in Bridgeport. We saw one well, scoped from a distance, on the first day of the trip. On the last day of the trip when passing through town again, we found another (presumably the same) bird which was later joined in flight by a second bird. This second look was close and long, including the bird drinking from a puddle about thirty feet in front of the car.

BOHEMIAN WAXWING - We had two large flocks of these birds giving spectacular looks. The first flock numbered around 300(!) birds near dusk on the lower part of Central Ferry Canyon Road near an orchard, in a tall tree right by the road. We watched in amazement as large groups of these birds would come and go, with the rufous undertail coverts standing out clearly as the birds glided and hover-dropped into the tree. We had another group of at least fifty along Nealy Road, not too far from the intersection with Grange road. This second group shared a tree with a very large flock of Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch.

HARRIS'S SPARROW - A single Harris's Sparrow was found in the hedgerow near the WDFW parking area on the Bridgeport Bar, presumably the same bird found by Marv Breece on his November trip to this area.

SNOW BUNTING - A large (hundreds) flock of mostly HORNED LARKS included at least a dozen SNOW BUNTING in a pasture by a small ranch along Timentwa Road about a mile in from Cameron Lakes Road. Sitting here for a long enough period of time would no doubt produce a falcon or two as it was a very target-rich environment for a falcon. In fact, we saw one flying from the general area but it was too far away for a species ID.

GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH - After missing this target species the first day, we hit the jackpot on the second day, thanks to several feeders. There was a large flock (100+) of these birds alternating between treetops and a nearby house which apparently had a (non-visible) feeder up. This location was at the intersection of Hungry Hollow Road and Grange Road. Later in the day, we saw a large flock - we believe it was the same one - at another ranch compound along Nealy Road. With only one or two hills between the two locations, it appeared the finches were shuttling back and forth between the two feeder locations, no doubt explaining the large number of birds.

PINE GROSBEAK - We found two good-sized flocks of these birds. The first was along Chesaw Road between Mary Ann Creek Road and the town of Chesaw. The second was near a ranch along Mary Ann Creek Road.

RED CROSSBILLS - A flock of at least eight was working the trees and flying around in the Ponderosa Pine area along Cameron Lake Road. We had one possible White-winged Crossbill call note heard, but insufficiently to call the ID for sure.

COMMON REDPOLL - A flock was found working weeds in the fields along Mary Ann Creek Road.

It was an excellent trip, with cooperative weather (except for frustratingly thick fog for driving in some areas late in the day) although the less major roads had not yet been plowed after recent snows. A 4WD vehicle and emergency gear are, as always, advisable in this area in the winter. Misses included Gyrfalcon, White-winged Crossbill and Hoary Redpoll.

Digiscoped images of some of the more interesting species can be found at http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/gallery.asp?cat=108053. All images were taken by Evan Houston and include Pine Grosbeak, Bohemian Waxwing, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Common Redpoll, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch and Northern Shrike. The Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch images in the linked folder is an outstanding shot.

John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net
www.tubbsphoto.com



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