Subject: [Tweeters] WOS fieldtrip-Takhlakh Lake
Date: Sep 26 11:05:02 2010
From: washingtonbirder.Ken Knittle - washingtonbirder at hotmail.com





The WOS fieldtrip officially began Sat. morning, but the birding began Friday enroute to Takhlakh Lake. Just south of Takhlakh Lake we had 2 Sooty Grouse along FR 23. Brown Creeper and Gray Jays were in the campground. The weather was perfect for owling. We owled not far from Takhlakh Lake on the road towards Horseshoe Lake. We were looking for good sized sub-alpine firs and dense, as this is what Boreal Owls like to hide in. Our second stop was perfect for habitat and a Boreal Owl came into the tape. Then a Barred Owl flew over the group also attracted to the Boreal tape. When the Barred Owl landed the Boreal gave a ?skiew? call, but not as loud as they usually do. The Barred kept flying back and forth over our group and at the end gave a super loud pissed off call before going into it?s normal call. I had never heard a Barred so agitated and loud. The Boreal was seen again moving into deeper cover and after the Barred was out of the area it was seen flying across the forest service road. That night in the campground a Northern Saw-whet Owl called once. Soon I would think these Saw-whets will be migrating to lower elevations.
Saturday morning the group started at Takhlakh Lake with an Osprey, Belted Kingfisher, 2 Hooded Mergansers, and a few Mallards at the lake. We spent the morning working our way to Horseshoe Lake and back stopping at different places. Birds seen between the two lakes were Northern Goshawk imm., many Clark?s Nutcrackers, Red Crossbill, and many flocks of Evening Grosbeaks. We noted the poor cone crop on many of the mature trees.
At Horseshoe Lake a Hermit Thrush was giving its call note across the water and a Townsend?s Solitaire also was giving its single call note. A fly over Sharp-shinned Hawk was in the area too. On the way out of Horseshoe Lake we stopped often looking for Spruce Grouse which we never did find. We noted the huckleberries and blueberries were scarce on fruit, which may have had something to do with making the grouse being scarce also. I think the Spruce Grouse are best in this area early in the morning and late afternoon.
After lunch at Takhlakh Lake we made one last pass between the two lakes. Our best find not far from the lava rock area was a nice looking male American Three-toed Woodpecker with a very white back, not the heavily barred subspecies normally seen in the northern cascades of Washington State. This kind of surprised me as I don?t remember any white-backed subspecies except in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington and in the mountains of northeastern Washington. The group was getting back into their cars when we heard one call note and after some work we were able to talk it into landing on the top of a dead tree top for great views. The total species count was 35 being low due to the high mountain birding and time of year.





Ken Knittle
Vancouver WA 98665
mailto:washingtonbirder.com
Washington Birder online
http://www.wabirder.com/