Marcus/Tweeters,

That is one big blizzard of Snow Buntings Marcus. You would do
yourself proud getting this observation recorded in Ebird.
> " but there must be a least one(McKay's) in this massive flock."
>
Not so sure about that. Audubon lists the continental Snow Bunting
population at 14.5 million. The McKay's is one rare little Bunting
with a world population estimated at only 6,000. If I did the math
correctly that's 2417 Snow Buntings for every McKay's. Getting close
tho. If you fly into Nome, Alaska tomorrow you will have a real good
shot at locating McKay's on the residential power lines in the north
part of town.

Use your Alaska Air frequent flyer miles and bundle up.

Larry Schwitters
Issaquah


On Jan 30, 2010, at 10:37 PM, Marcus.D.Roening at gsk.com wrote:

> Hi Tweets,
>
> Spent a great Saturday with my friends Woody Wheeler, Wayne & Margie
> Sladek, covering the Waterville Plateau in Douglas County and then
> driving up Cameron Lake Rd on to Havilla Highlands Sno-park in hopes
> of a Great Gray Owl at dusk. After many a gale force wind on the
> plateau, the weather on this trip was delightful - overcast, No wind
> and hovering in the mid-30Fs.
>
> We were staying in Chelan, so we came up the Mcneal Canyon Road and
> were greeted at the top by beautiful PRAIRIE FALCON. One of 3 seen
> during the day.
>
> In Mansfield we saw 13 EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES (Also saw EuCD in
> Bridgeport and Tonasket!) & a Great-horned Owl. We ran into Charile
> Wright in friends from Tacoma who told about seeing SNOW BUNTINGS
> near the town of Winthrow, near the intersection of Sprauer Road and
> F NW. So back we went and after a bit of back and forth we found the
> flock about 2 miles north of the intersection. Did I mention how
> many? We guestimated at least 1200 SNOW BUNTINGS!! Since my previous
> highs never reached 2 digits, I was dumb founded. We searched
> through at least 300 Snow Buntings that were coming up onto the road
> for grit looking for McKay's Bunting. No obvious males, but there
> sure were some very white birds with only a hint of black streaking
> across the shoulders. With 3 different bird books between us, we
> still were uncertain on to properly identify a McKay's, but there
> must be a least one in this massive flock.
>
> Ended up finding 7 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS between the Snow Buntings and
> the north end of Bridgeport Hill Road. We did a lot of scanning for
> Gyrfalcon's and Snowy Owls, but no luck in that department.
>
> The big hope of the day was to find SHARP-TAILED GROUSE and after
> many a trip with nary a chicken, today we were rewarded with 13
> birds feeding at the tops of the River Birch trees! The were on
> Bridgeport Hill Road, 1 mile north of Dyer Hill Rd in the copse of
> trees on the left in the Wells Wildlife Reserve. We saw them at 9:00
> am and actually heard them clucking before we found them. They flew
> back and forth a few times in the ravine and then we watched while
> they entertained us with their antics in the tops of the trees -
> quite special.
>
> Walked into Bridgeport State Park in Okanogan County and after a bit
> of searching located a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL - always a pleasure to
> see.
>
> Cameron Lake Road was very rutted, muddy and icy, which severely
> limited our ability to bird.
>
> All in all, it was a great day!
>
> Marcus Roening
> GSK Oncology - Hematology
> Tacoma, WA
> marcus.d.roening at gsk.com
> C: (253) 988 8313
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> http://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

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