Subject: [Tweeters] Methow Birds and Roads--L. Flycatcher Yes
Date: Jun 11 12:13:06 2009
From: Penny Koyama - plkoyama at verizon.net


Tweets,

David and I spent Mon-Wed birding through Gary Bletsch's eastern Skagit County (wow--didn't know there were so many nice areas there until paying closer attention to his postings) to Winthrop,Twisp, Conconully, and the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area.

I won't list all of the wonderful birds, as we were basically poaching off earlier Tweeters info. But we did find Matt Bartel's chat at Dead Horse Lake and Gene Hunn's & George Gertz's Least Flycatcher in Pipestone Canyon. The flycatcher, though, was located further in the canyon past the 2 large cliffs to the left (where the Prairie Falcon was screeching away!) It made one chi-bek but wouldn't come out until the i-pod. After that, it sang repeatedly, and I swear it followed us down the trail. David said it thought "his princess was in my pocket and was being kidnapped."

One other notable sighting was a displaying Dusky Grouse on the road just down from Sun Mountain Lodge. This may be a reliable Dusky site, as we saw a pair on the grounds at 6:30 a.m., and a male on the left side of the road both mornings as we drove down. Yesterday's male did a hilarious display, much of it walking along the top of the guard rail, hopping to the ground and stomping for a while, then more nail-clicking stomps clinging to the guard rail. And all the while he was undeterred by truck traffic and David's noisy camera.

Note on roads--we found FR 4200 too difficult for our Prius and had a nail-biting ride from Loup Loup to Conconully, where we then experienced a 1-hr downpour. We revised our plan to head back to Winthrop via Baldy Pass, and drove the long way through Sinlahekin instead. There were only a few ducks (mostly RN Ducks and female Barrow's Goldeneyes) on the various lakes, though there were many nice passerines at Blue Lake. The area was beautiful, but not "birdy" on Tues. On Wed, we were able to get to Sullivan Pond (nighthawks) and Pipestem Canyon ok with our 6" clearance. But we were surprised to be unable to look for Matt B's White-headed Woodpecker and Am Dipper at the Leavenworth Fish Hatchery--Hwy 2 is closed overnights through Tumwater Canyon (10 mi.) for repaving. We had to hustle through and abandon those potential birds to make it out by the 7:30 p.m. closure.

Penny Koyama, Bothell
plkoyama at verizon.net