OKANOGAN COUNTY

2-4 APRIL 2010


We birded Okanogan County Friday through Sunday experiencing cold and
blustery weather. Snow fell above 2000 feet elevation all day Friday and it
was very cool and windy both Saturday and Sunday. We decided to stay at
lower elevations all three days.

Coming from the south on Friday we began birding in earnest at the fish pens
along the Columbia River downstream from Grand Coulee Dam. Lots of
California and Ring-billed Gulls and a few Herring Gulls were doing their
best to snatch fish food at this trout-rearing facility though nets and
screens are doing their best to dissuade birds.

West along the river we left the main road near Goose Flats and explored
along Timm Road. Along about a five-mile stretch we saw two LOGGERHEAD
SHRIKES in thoroughly over-grazed shrub-steppe.

Returning to the main road, at least one LONG-BILLED CURLEW called from
grasslands at Goose Flats. Lots of waterfowl were at Goose Lake including
Canada Goose, hundreds of Green-winged Teal, smaller counts of Mallards,
Northern Pintails, American Wigeons, Northern Shovelers, Ring-necked Ducks,
Lesser scaup, Canvasbacks, Redheads, Common Goldeneyes, Buffleheads, and
Ruddy Ducks. An immature Bald Eagle put up all these birds as it flew by.

We explored Omak Lake for an hour or so, a new spot for us. RED-BREASTED
MERGANSERS were our most exciting find, three males and two females. We
tallied a few Common Loons and perhaps 20 Horned Grebes, too. I think we
will hit this spot again!

At dusk we tried for owls at the overlook in the Scotch Creek Wildlife Area.
This area was right at the lower elevation for snow. We failed on owls; it
was breezy and the trees were still dripping.

Saturday morning before dawn we again went to Scotch Creek Wildlife Area
hoping for owls. On the way we heard a Great Horned Owl but at the wildlife
area we again dipped on owls. We were in luck for chickens though. Several
DUSKY GROUSE hooted their single note. We also heard Gray Partridge, Chukar,
Ring-necked Pheasant, Wild Turkey, and California Quail. We've been jealous
of Khanh Tran's chicken lists so were pleased to come close to his
now-legendary ability to find these birds!

We drove into the wildlife area on Hess Lake Road. North from the end of the
road (at the hay shelter) we scoped two PRAIRIE FALCONS, very uncommon in
the breeding season in Okanogan County. We observed these birds mating.
Then, the male flew off for a minute and brought a junco to his mate, a
pretty modest courtship offering for a grand bird!


All during the first hours of daylight Saturday American Robins, maybe 1500
in all, swarmed everywhere. We watched flocks flying east from the direction
of Conconully on this very cold morning (25 degrees). We thought these birds
might be fleeing the snow which mantled the slopes everywhere above 2000
feet elevation and were seeking open fields lower down. We counted at least
500 on the plowed cropland at the Scotch Creek Wildlife Area, not far below
the snowline.

At midmorning on Saturday we poked about the shrub-steppe south of Okanogan,
hoping for Sage Sparrow, an Okanogan County rarity. I've had them in the
sagelands south of Okanogan in the past. Well, no Sage Sparrows but we did
see a pair of LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES in sagebrush and Bitterbrush shrub-steppe
at Milepost 276.7 on US-97. We observed these birds copulate suggesting they
might nest in this area. This species is near the northern limit of its
distribution here.

We then headed north to Palmer Lake to see what was about on this big lake
in the northern Sinlahekin Valley. Tree and Violet-green Swallows were the
big news here, at least 1000 birds hugging close to the surface of Palmer
Lake, due to the very cool temperatures.



Just south of Nighthawk we hiked up a grassy moraine by the roadside to the
very steep and rugged slopes of Ellemeham Mountain. Birds were not a feature
of this jaunt but we enjoyed the dense sward of native grasses too steep for
cattle to climb (Agropyron, Stipa, and Festuca) plus a sprinkling of
wildflowers (Geyer's desert-parsley and nine-leaf lomatium).


Heading down the Simalkameen River towards Oroville, we watched an adult
GOLDEN EAGLE perform a spectacular stoop on the west side of Kruger Mountain
(west of town) to a Yellow-bellied Marmot. We watched this grand bird
consume the marmot and later saw this regal bird soar up to its nest, on the
west side of Kruger Mountain. To find the nest, from the overlook above the
dam on Shankers Bend. Look up to the obvious splotch of white high on the
mountain north of the highest summit. From this big patch of whitewash, the
huge stick nest is about 25 feet higher on the cliff.

In Omak near dusk, while heading to the Breadline Caf?, our favorite
restaurant in the Okanogan, we noted 10 Turkey Vultures sailing around tall
conifers a little north of the main downtown, a night roost?

Sunday morning started off with a male WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER drumming and
calling in Ponderosa Pines on Cameron Lake Road. From Omak go south,
climbing to the plateau, to the first lake on west side of road; the bird
was here. Pygmy Nuthatches were also nearby and this little lake was full of
ducks including Ring-necked and Barrow's Goldeneyes. A pair of Pied-billed
Grebes were uttering their odd courtship chatter: "eh eh eh."

Southward from the pines on the Cameron Lake Road in the shrub-steppe
habitat, we heard and saw lots of Vesper Sparrows. We may have heard a
single segment of song by a Sage Thrasher but we were not able to confirm
this.



We were excited to find 10 SNOW BUNTINGS on highest part of Timentwa Road by
grassy edge of a pond east of the Cameron Lake Road. These are the latest in
spring Snow Buntings we have observed in Washington. All appeared to be
female birds.

Duley Lake was not too busy with waterbirds. Here we had a modest
introduction to cranes for the day. Farther south on the plateau SANDHILL
CRANES, about 500 bugled, many flapping upwards, then soaring in wide
circles before sailing northward. Talk about a spectacle!



We then hit a new "road" on the plateau and heading south on Delfeld Road. A
MERLIN rewarded us in plowed wheatfields in an area where we noted a high
number of Horned Larks. This is the third Merlin we've sighted up here this
winter and spring.

Back in the Okanogan Valley , scoping the Okanogan River south from the
Monse Bridge, among hundreds of American Wigeons we spotted a male EURASIAN
WIGEON. Just west of the bridge in a small grove of introduced locust trees,
several Eurasian Collared-Doves cooed "ex-haus-ted.ex-haus-ted.ex-haus-ted!"

At a field just south of Monse we watched a NORTHERN SHRIKE dive from an
overhead power line on US-97 into a dense patch of weeds, reappearing with a
vole which it carried off in its beak out of view. This shrike seemed to fly
quite well with its big meal.

First of spring Cliff Swallows, maybe 10 in all, flitted about the
Columbia River at Fort Okanogan State Park. Cassimer Bar proved good for a
pair of Wood Ducks and the first of many Common Loons, 25 in all, from here
to the Lake Azwell south of Pateros.



Before exiting Okanogan County, we found another male EURASIAN WIGEON along
the Columbia River on Starr Road several miles south of Pateros.

Andy and Ellen Stepniewski
Wapato WA
steppie at nwinfo.net