Subject: [Tweeters] WOS Conference trip highlights - Dusky Grouse,
Date: Jun 14 19:31:13 2010
From: Tim O'Brien - kertim7179 at yahoo.com


Hi all,

My tired self and I are back from an extended weekend in Wenatchee for the 22nd Annual WOS Conference. I led 3 different trips which included the Entiat River valley, Lake Chelan area, and the Wenatchee Confluence / Horan Natural Area. A big thank you to everyone involved in organizing the conference this year! It was great! I personally would like to thank Dan Stephens for all the pre-trip info on where to find the target birds and Brad Waggoner for his team attitude on sharing birds found since we led the same trips on different days. Here's a quick list of highlights from the 3 days:

Best personal bird - Dusky Grouse

First heard then seen way up the North Fork Mud Creek Road on Saturday. The "booming" was low and not very loud and thanks to the good eyes of one of the trip participants (thanks Dave!) the grouse was found just off the road about half-way up a small fir tree that was only about 50 feet away. With scopes trained on the bird, each time it vocalized we could see the air sac on the neck and it was very red. The "booming" was very quiet compared to that of Sooty Grouse which you can hear from a great distance.

Woodpeckers Galore!

Both Saturday and Sunday turned up several woodpeckers including fantastic views of White-headed, Lewis's, Red-naped Sapsucker, Hairy, Northern Flicker, and one Pileated.

Mountain Bluebirds - two different spots both in the higher elevations above Mud Creek. One nesting pair seen on Friday when I was scouting.

Peregrine Falcons - Seen on the cliffs of the Columbia River both Saturday and Sunday morning. On Sunday, we added a second for the day on another cliff wall along Navaree Coulee Road.

Black Swifts - two seen today over the Horan Natural area (good spotting Jeff!) I kept it quiet, but they were a life bird for me! I had studied them in the field guides beforehand and was so glad to see them on the last day.

I could go on and on - 81 species on Saturday, 95 on Sunday, and probably 40 this morning on a half day trip. Thanks to all the participants and I hope to see everyone next year!

Tim O'Brien
Cheney, WA
mailto: kertim7179 at yahoo dot com