Tweets -

Last week I was in Okanogan County and one of the places I spent some
time was on the Omak Plateau along the Cameron Lake Road (plus a few
side jaunts). The day was partly about birds, partly a social occasion,
so we were less than diligent about observing, especially of song
birds. The highlights were 2 Golden Eagle, the mass of Cliff Swallow at
the Duley Lake basalt cliff, and Redheads and Yellow-headed Blackbird.

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This report was mailed for Doug Canning by http://birdnotes.net

Date: May 15, 2009
Location: Omak Plateau, Okanogan County, Washington

Prevailing wind speed: 1-5 km/h
Percentage of sky covered by clouds: 10%
Precipitation: none

>From ~0815 to ~1125 we drove south on Omak Plateau on the Cameron Lake
Road (with a few side jaunts of less than a mile). Principal
observations were at 2 small lakes on the west side of Cameron Lake
Road ~0.5 mile nw of the northerly intersection of Cameron Lake Loop Rd
& Cameron Lake Rd; at Little Goose Lake; at Duley Lake; and at a little
marsh on the Joy Ranch.

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):

Gadwall (Anas strepera) 2
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 9
Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera) 1
Green-Winged Teal (Anas crecca) 2
Redhead (Aythya americana) 14
Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris) 16
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) 1
Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) 6
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) 1
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 4
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) 2 [1]
American Coot (Fulica americana) 3
Common Raven (Corvus corax) 1
Violet-green Swallow (Tachycineta thalassina)
Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) 300 [2]
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 1
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 6
Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) 1
Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) 14
Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)

Footnotes:

[1] One adult, one juvenile.
[2] I counted 250 nests on the basalt cliff and up to 300 Cliff
Swallow in flight at a time; the total number of adults and
nestlings is unknown.

Total number of species seen: 20
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Douglas Canning
Olympia, Wash.
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