I just uploaded a couple of pictures of the Boreal Chickadee and Clay-colored Sparrow each onto my blog at http://birdmeister.wordpress.com. Enjoy!

Stefan Schlick
Hillsboro, OR




From: greenfant at hotmail.com
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 01:34:04 -0400
Subject: [Tweeters] Yet another Okanogan report





I finished with 137 trip birds on my annual July 4th pilgrimage to the Okanogan. On the way up there from the Portland area, I successfully twitched the Black-throated Sparrow in Vantage. I had arrived the night before and when I got out of my car at around 11:15pm, I heard a Sage Thrasher sing softly for about 15min. An excellent start ...

Here the highlights (in no particular order):

-Least Flycatcher (1 at Cassimer Bar; from the Smoke Shop, drive up Cassimer Bar Access Rd to the T, then turn right and go to the end. You should be able to hear the bird from the little parking lot)
-Grasshopper Sparrow (1 at 1.2mi up Soap Lake Rd, then walk east for 150yds along rough dirt road; 1 about 2.5mi up Molson Rd from Chesaw Rd with Savannahs)
-Clay-colored Sparrow (1 point blank in rosehip "tree" at pole at 4.0mi up Nine-mile Rd from Chesaw Rd)
-Flammulated Owl (1 heard from Beaver Lake CG at night)
-Three-toed Woodpecker (pair at 11.2mi in burn up Cecile Ck Rd, this is on the high point of the road, walk 100yds west on road with a yellow gate; if you keep going on Cecile Ck Rd for another maybe 2-3 miles, you will come to a Y, go left here, there will be a bridge in about 0.1mi, there were 2 more birds in 1.1mi from bridge; if you go right at the Y, the road will take you out onto FR39 in about 4.6mi)
-Boreal Chickadee (1 about 0.5mi downhill from Cold Springs CG on road to Chopaka Mtn trailhead, see Opperman for good directions)
-Bobolink (1 at Tonasket-Havillah Rd & Siwash Ck Rd; may access via Fancher Rd not to have to deal with traffic)
-Northern Waterthrush (2 singers at two-bridge slough on the north end of Park City Loop Rd north of Nespelem)
-American Redstart (5 at two-bridge slough on the north end of Park City Loop Rd north of Nespelem)
-Red-eyed Vireo (many in the Nespelem area)
-Forster's Tern (1 at Okanogan & Columbia River; for the best vantage point go uphill towards Brewster from the bridge over the Okanogan River and scope from a little rise; parking is bad)

With the easy option out for now - FR38 through Salmon Meadows - it is a little more challenging to reach good boreal habitat. I tried 2 new options: Cecile Ck Rd (heads east just south of Loomis) and the Cold Springs CG area near Chopaka Mtn. Both have viable habitat for Spruce Grouse, Boreal Chickadee and Three-toed Woodpecker.

Due to an unfortunate spillage in my car, I had to replace my WA state DeLorme last year. I would seriously recommend not using the latest edition of the DeLorme for the Okanogan Cascades and downgrade or get a forest service map instead. Really, it's worse than not having anything at all.

Stefan Schlick
Hillsboro, OR


_______________________________________________ Tweeters mailing list Tweeters at u.washington.edu http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters