Hi all,

This past weekend, I guided a fine group of Seattle birders to the Okanogan and Waterville Plateau. It was slow birding but the great company, scenery, and quality looks of targeted/lifer birds made it fun!

We did great with 6 species of 'hooters and cluckers'. Seeing 6 NORTHERN PYGMY OWLS up close and in less than 5 hours was cool. Running into Scott, Lori and Stan of Yakima at the Sno-Park and ending the evening with a magnificent GREAT GRAY OWL was awesome.

My client, Bruce gets the 'Eagle Eyes' award for first spotting the elusive bird in the dark within 5 minutes of arriving at the site. We were more impress of how nonchalant his reaction was for this lifer bird.
"Oh, that's a Great Gray Owl". Collective kharma and teamwork rules!

Other HIGHLIGHTS included: A extremely, cooperative male WHITE HEADED WOODPECKER eating snow in the Highlands, a NORTHERN PYGMY OWL catching a rodent about 15 feet from us, and two SAGE GROUSE flying over our car. Also, seeing a large, pure flock of SNOW BUNTINGS swirling in the skies is always mesmerizing. Largest flock was about 150 birds. Lastly, a personal high count of 38 GRAY PATRIDGES in two days was fun.

A few scant photos:

http://www.pbase.com/spruce_grouse/okanogan_winter_&page=all

***********List of species***********

1 PRAIRIE FALCON (near Toppenish NWR)
3 Golden Eagle (Waterville Plateau and Highlands)
15 Rough-legged Hawks (various morphs)
1 NORTHERN GOSHAWK (Hwy 10 near Cle Elum en route home)
1 GREAT GRAY OWL (Okanogan Highlands- Sno-Park)
2 Great Horned Owl (Okanogan Highlands)
8 NORTHERN PYGMY OWL--(Okanogan Highlands)
1 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL (Bridgeport State Park)
2 SHORT EARED OWL
4 LONG EARED OWL
2 SAGE GROUSE (near Leahy Junction)
38 GRAY PATRIDGE (Okanogan Highlands and town of Waterville)
1 SHARP-TAILED GROUSE (Foster Creek)
8 Ruffed Grouse (Okanogan Highlands)
2 Wild Turkey (Okanogan Highlands)
1 American Dipper (Beaver Lake-Okanogan Highlands)
175 BOHEMIAN WAXWING (Bridgeport State Park)
1 WHITE HEADED WOODPECKER (Okanogan Highland)
10 Northern Shrike (Okanogan Highlands, Waterville Plateau)
20 GRAY-CROWNED ROSYFINCHES--both FORMS (Okanogan Highlands)
200 COMMON REDPOLLS (two flocks on Okanogan Highlands)
2 PINE GROSBEAKS(Okanogan Highlands)
250 SNOW BUNTINGS (3 flocks Okanogan Highlands)

Good birding,

Khanh Tran
www.ktbirding.com