Hello Tweeters,

Seventeen of us enjoyed a beautiful and chilly, winter trip to the Okanogan
highlands and the Waterville plateau. The weather was sunny, temperatures
around 30 degrees Fahrenheit, with breezy mornings. We stayed in Omak,
which provided a convenient central location for day trips.

Saturday morning we visited Conconully and Conconully State Park, the birds
were quiet at first with the cold weather, but we enjoyed great looks of
Downy Woodpecker, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Clark?s Nutcracker, Hairy
Woodpecker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Mountain Chickadee, and
Varied Thrush. Highlights were close observations of puffed up Western
Bluebirds on power lines along the road, majestic views of perched Golden
Eagle on a hillside snag performing a short flight, and a White-headed
Woodpecker breaking apart a pine cone allowing the entire group to
appreciate. Species also seen were American Green-winged Teal, Townsend?s
Solitaire, Cooper?s Hawk, and Northern Shrike.

Saturday afternoon we traveled to the Okanogan highlands on
Tonasket-Havillah Road. On Fancher Road we saw Northern Harrier and the
first of many Horned Larks. Tooling are way up we had many good looks of
Rough-legged Hawks, some with very light heads and others darker with very
dark belly bands. The Highlands Cross Country Sno-Park was quiet, a few
Black-capped Chickadee and two accipiters observed flying through dense
woods. North of Havillah, and on W. Wildermuth Road some of us were treated
to wonderful views of 30 Snow Bunting. The small flock flew 30 feet
overhead, crisp white and black against blue skies. Checking the feeders on
Grange Road and Hungry Hollow Road we added American Goldfinch, Evening
Grosbeak and a Bicolored Blackbird to our list, but missed seeing
Gray-crowned Rosy Finch. Both homeowners were out enjoying the day and
reported our target bird had been at the feeders in the early morning, and
this was their recent behavior. The Granger Road feeder home has suet in a
conifer along the road that provided fantastic observations of Hairy
Woodpecker and Downy Woodpecker. Mary Ann Creek Road provided some of our
group with quick views of Pine Grosbeak and Roughed Grouse. Unfortunately
the Pine Grosbeak did not stick around and we did not see Sharp-tailed
Grouse and Common Redpoll.

Sunday morning we got an early start and headed back to the highlands.
Based on a tip from friends birding the same region, we stopped by the
orchards at S. Janis Road and McLaughlin Canyon Road and considered
ourselves very lucky to have up close views of Bohemian Waxwing. With the
wind-chill we were very cold and a flock of 30 birds were observed eating
wrinkled aged fruit on the apple trees. We drove up Nealey Road, but could
not locate any active feeders. We did have great views of more Snow Bunting
on a power pole and lines along the road. With great excitement we found
the Gray-crowned Rosy Finch at the Hungry Hollow Road feeder. The entire
group enjoyed the birds eating seed as well as flying around the shed and
fence line along the road. We drove Mary Anne Creek Road a second time and
unfortunately missed Sharp-tailed Grouse and Common Redpoll. Connecting
with birding friends along the way, these species had not been seen during
the day. Some of our group saw an American Kestrel on our way back to
Tonasket near Fancher Road.

Sunday afternoon we stopped at the Brewster Marina Boat Launch off W. Bruce
Ave and scoped American Coot, Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Duck, Bufflehead, Redhead,
Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Ring-necked Duck, Canada Geese, Common Loon
and Canvasback. Belted Kingfisher and Bald Eagle were also seen. On the
Lake Pateros middle turnout View Point of Route 173 east of Brewster we had
good views of previously reported Long-tailed Duck, and Eared Grebe with
additional waterfowl. The male Long-tailed Duck with its prominent pink
band around the bill was molting from nonbreeding to breeding plumage. At
Bridgeport Bar, there was lots of waterfowl to view and scope; we added
Cacklers, Trumpeter Swans, Northern Pintail, American Wigeon and Common
Merganser. In the bramble between the road and the water we tried without
success to find a Tree Sparrow amongst the hundred or so juvenile and adult
White-crowned Sparrow. Surprisingly, we chased a light finely streaked
sparrow with white outer rectrices into the grassy field, which we suspected
was a Vesper Sparrow. Another beautiful Golden Eagle soared overhead. We
visited the Bridgeport State Park, and after careful thorough searching we
finely located two Northern Saw-whet Owls in a small groomed conifer. While
appreciating memorable views, some of our participants discovered a Great
Horned Owl 250 feet away. We quickly elected to divert our attention from
the Northern Saw-whet Owls to following the Great-horned Owl, which we
flushed, to the outskirts of the park. We finished our day at the Chief
Joseph Dam Wetlands just upstream from the dam boom where we scoped Western
Grebe, Great Blue Heron, and Gadwall along with other waterfowl. We added
Ringed-billed Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull and Glaucous-winged x Western Gull
hybrid to our list.

Monday morning we got an even earlier start on our trip home, and drove the
Central Ferry Canyon Road to explore the Central Ferry State Wildlife
Recreational Park. At the top of the Canyon we were treated to good viewing
of Pygmy Nuthatch and Red Crossbills. We had terrific looks at a Northern
Shrike, which proudly regurgitated a pellet. White-breasted Nuthatch was
heard as well. Surveying the Waterville Plateau, we appreciated many
raptors including Northern Harrier, Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle, Red-tailed
Hawk, and many Rough-legged Hawks. We visited the Mansfield Cemetery were
we inadvertently flushed two Great Horned Owls. A quarter mile east of
Mansfield on route 172 we had exciting views of a Prairie Falcon and
Short-eared Owl, unfortunately we did not see a Gyrfalcon that was
reportedly seen shortly after we left. One of the big highlights of our
trip was finding two Long-eared Owls in a thicket on Heritage Road just
south of 172 east of Mansfield. We were careful not to disturb the owls and
had great looks. While scouting on Friday we accidentally flushed the owls
and misidentified them in flight. The Long-eared Owl appears similar to the
Short-eared Owl in flight; distinguishing field marks include more finely
barred wing tips and more darkly barred breast and belly. Our hobby can be
humbling! Driving west on Route 2 west of 173 we found a large group of
Horned Lark, but were unsuccessful finding a Lapland Longspur. We did
manage to see two on our scouting trip in the same area on Friday and were
disappointed not to relocate the longspurs for our participants.
Fortunately we did relocate a group of 15 Gray Partridge just south of Route
2 in the area of Rd I SW and H Rd SW adjacent to some family farms. The
male partridge were posturing, jumping up several inches and breast butting
with lots of vocalizations. A terrific way to end our trip!

We saw a total of 86 species over the President?s Day 3-day weekend, other
species seen included Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Flicker, Black-billed
Magpie, European Starling, House Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Stellar?s Jay,
Rock Pigeon, Mallard, American Robin, House Finch, California Quail,
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Hooded Merganser, Eurasian Collared Dove, Morning
Dove and probably 500 Common Ravens many paired up. We would like to thank
our wonderful participants for making this a fabulous trip. Our birders
were very determined to help find birds, courteous of each other, and
excellent with collaborating and consensus building in identifying
individual birds. We are grateful and fortunate to share this adventure
with all of you.

Cheers and good birding,

Ruth Sullivan and
Shep Thorp
sthorp at theaec.com <mailto:sthorp at theaec.com>
253-370-3742