NORTH TO THE ROSS'S GULL

23-25 DECEMBER 2011



Birders from far and wide converged on Palmer Lake in the Okanogan to
observe the exquisite ROSS'S GULL, discovered by Jeff Heinlen 15 December.
We, too made the trek north and had distant, but satisfying views of the
bird perched out on the ice at the lake's north end.



Before dawn on the 24th we (Steve Giles, Ellen and I) ventured up Toats
Coulee Road in search of Great Gray Owl and Dusky Grouse. We carefully
scanned the open aspen woods, especially from about Milepost 10-13 for owls,
but found only Great Horned Owl. At about 13 miles, while still barely
light, we heard chattering from finches, crossbills or redpolls I wasn't
sure. We would return later to check this out. Meanwhile, two AMERICAN
THREE-TOED WOODPECKERS drummed from the forest below.



Most of the morning we spent hiking in search of DUSKY GROUSE. This is a
relatively easy bird to spot in the breeding season but migrate upslope and
retreat into the forest during winter, becoming more difficult to find. I
had experience finding a good number of this species years ago while hiking
up Tiffany Mountain from Salmon Meadows. We found them high on south slopes,
at the steppe/forest edge. I chose a similar habitat for a hike in hopes of
duplicating my previous experience. We started hiking one mile east of the
Okanogan National Forest east boundary, climbing north up the steep
sidehill, traversing grasslands of fescue mixed with forbs such as
buckwheats and lupine. About 700 feet in elevation uphill, the slope
lessened and we entered an open Douglas-fir forest. Ellen first spotted
grouse tracks in the snow. A bit more traipszing about the forest and a
grouse flushed up. We had views of two birds up in a Douglas-fir with a bit
more searching. Ta da!



We returned to the road and drove back up mountain to the "finch" spot. We
were rewarded with about 20 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS, foraging in the many
cones high up in Engelmann Spruce and Douglas-fir.



Christmas morning before dawn we again tried for Great Gray Owl, this time
on the Lyman Lake-Moses Meadow Road. We focused in the area north of Moses
Meadows. Well, once again we dipped on our target bird but we did hear a
Northern Pygmy-Owl. Our most interesting birding was in the Ponderosa Pine
forests down near SR-155 where lots of Clark's Nutcrackers and Red
Crossbills called among the trees.


Homeward, we stopped at the Nespelem Bar, hoping for gulls. Not many gulls,
but goldeneyes were about, both Barrow's and Common.


Finally, we searched for gulls at Grand Coulee. Behind the dam were Herring,
Glaucous-winged, one THAYER'S, several Glaucous-winged and one
Glaucous-winged X Western adult. At Electric City we were excited to note an
immature GLAUCOUS GULL. Ellen first spotted another goody, an adult MEW
GULL. The summer and fall draw down of Banks Lake seems to be ending. The
lake is still 20 or so feet down but an impressive torrent is entering the
lake, pumped up 300 feet in elevation from Grand Coulee, powered by the
world's largest pumps. These will fill Banks Lake, again forming the head
works for the huge Columbia Basin "Reclamation Project," irrigating 600,000
or so acres in the southern Columbia Basin.




Andy and Ellen Stepniewski

Wapato WA

steppie at nwinfo.net