On Sunday (11/27/11), Jon Isacoff, Garrett MacDonald, birded a route from?Stevens County?up through the?Okanogan?Highlands. ?Skies were partly sunny and temps were relatively mild for this time of the year.?

Initially, we dipped on the Valley Trumpeter?Swans, but we did see the PRAIRIE FALCON on it's favorite site on Smokey Ridge (Heine Road, Stevens Co.) On a snag overlooking the West?Kettle Falls?Bridge, we enjoyed views of Tim Durrell's previously reported PEREGRINE FALCON. ?This well-fed looking Peregrine was most confiding.

Checking up on the reported winter gulls at Key Point, we carefully scanned the river but only found a few COMMON GOLDENEYE and MALLARDs. Just as we were leaving, a MEW GULL obliged us by flying over the parking lot.
It was certainly nice to pick up a couple of Stevens County lifers by mid morning.

Once we crossed over into?Ferry County, birding became somewhat slow. However, on the?east slope?of Sherman Pass at the junction of Grave's Mountain Road, we flushed nine PINE GROSBEAKs off the road. In addition, there was a male WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL with the flock. The WW Crossbill was one of our much hoped for Ferry County target birds, and it is always great a pleasure to find this attractive species anywhere.?Later, on?the west side?of Sherman Pass, we saw three GRAY JAYs. ?A flock of?CLARK'S?NUTCRACKERs graced the south end of Republic.?

After entering?Okanogan County, east of Wauconda Pass, we witnessed a NORTHERN SHRIKE in hot pursuit of an AMERICAN TREE SPARROW. Later, we saw a GOLDEN EAGLE cruising over a ridgeline and a STELLER'S JAY. On the pass, we saw GRAY JAY, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, and AMERICAN KESTREL. ?

Up on the Okanogan Highlands, we stopped at?Beaver Lake. While a PACIFIC WREN scolded us from the underbrush, we were quite pleased to see a TRUMPETER SWAN gliding over the unfrozen surface of Beaver Lake. Meanwhile, a pair of?VIRGINIA?RAILs began calling, and we had nice visuals on one of the birds.

Other bird of interest on the highlands included good numbers of NORTHERN SHRIKEs, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKs, BALD EAGLE -2, SNOW BUNTINGs -7, two different swirling flocks of REDPOLLs, and an elegant roadside flock of BOHEMIAN WAXWINGs -90.?

Although we searched for owls in the Highland Snowpark, we could only turn up PILEATED WOODPECKER, MT. CHICKADEEs, and some more REDPOLLS. On the return trip back through Ferry County, we were unable to elicit any owl responses.?However, enjoying the night sky that was with filled with brilliant stars and an incredibly bright Milky Way was more than adequate compensation for me.

Our most unexpected bonus bird of the day in Okanogan County was an immature male RUSTY BLACKBIRD. We spotted the Rusty on a wire with a small flock of Starlings. The bird flew in and out of a livestock feeder. This site is a livestock feeding paddock on the north side of Chesaw Road and is at the junction with Rawhide Road.?

Even though it was a rather whirlwind trip through three counties, we were extremely pleased to find so many high quality winter birds. ?While winter birding can be challenging, ?it is ever so rewarding.

Good winter birding,

Gina?Sheridan
Spokane, WA