Greetings All -
Spent the last three days birding NE Washington with Brad Waggoner. Here are the highlights:
Waterville Plateau - 2/17/2012Drove the Plateau during the late morning on Friday on our way north to end our evening in Tonasket. It was a bit slow at times but a huge flock of Snow Buntings was worthwhile.Gray Partridge - 2Northern Harrier - 1Red-tailed Hawk - 1Rough-legged Hawk - 21American Kestrel - 1Prairie Falcon - 1Northern Shrike - 2Snow Bunting - 950
Cameron Lake Road - 2/17Pretty dead - Couldn't even eak out a Tree Sparrow!Northern Shrike - 2Snow Bunting - 120Red Crossbill (type 2) 30
Foster Creek Wildlife Area - 2/17No ST Grouse as per my usual luck here.Northern Harrier - 2 - male in full courtship display flightNorthern Shrike - 1
Havillah Road/Okanogan Highlands - 2/17We arrived in the highlands fairly late so it was pretty slow.Rough-legged Hawk - 1Golden Eagle - 1Northern Shrike - 2Pine Grosbeak - 4
Mary Ann Creek Road - 2/17Again, very late in the day, we did luck into a flock of redpolls which allowed us to scope for quite a while to assess for any Hoary Redpoll - several candidates but all turned out to be just palish Commons once all the field marks were looked at.Northern Shrike - 1Common Redpoll - 120
Highlands Snow Park - 2/17Pretty good success owling after dark - its amazing how many owls this area can support. The Great Horned seemed to be all over!Great Horned Owl - 8Long-eared Owl - 1Northern Saw-whet Owl - 2
Mary Ann Creek Road - 2/18A more productive morning than our visit to Mary Ann Creek the afternoon before. The Ruffed Grouse were feeding in the trees and the Crossbills we encountered somewhat close to Poland-China Road - very cooperative. Took some nice group photos.Ruffed Grouse - 2Golden Eagle - 1Northern Shrike - 4White-winged Crossbill - 65
Nealy Road - 2/18The feeders were quite productive.Gray Partridge - 10Rough-legged Hawk - 3Gray Crowned Rosy-Finch 100 Hepburn's, 30 Interior.Common Redpoll - 2
Chesaw - 2/18We staked out the feeders for a while near the intersection of Bolster Road. Found a few palish Redpolls but were all Common - good spot to nail down a Hoary and a good place to photograph one if there is one this year! Keep this spot in mind during your okanogan visits.Golden Eagle - 1Northern Shrike - 1Common Redpoll - 60
Okanogan Highlands - Beaver Lake - 2/18Virginia Rails and Dippers in the highlands in the winter are pretty neat.Red-tailed Hawk - 2Virginia Rail - 2American Dipper - 2
Wauconda Pass - 2/18Near the Pass crest - on the west side of the pass 200 yards or so west of the Wauconda Pass sign - North side of the highway - perching high in a bare snag.Northern Hawk Owl
Scotch Creek Wildlife Area (Happy Hill Rd, Conconully) - 2/18We drove up Happy Hill a bit and encountered several large coveys of sharp-tailed grouse - clucking and calling and running around on the snow!Gray Partridge - 12Sharp-tailed Grouse - 65Northern Shrike - 2
Leahy Junction - 2/19The grouse lek doesn't appear to be active but we were lucky to have two males fly by as we were scoping the lek grounds.Gray Partridge - 2Greater Sage-Grouse - 2Great Horned Owl - 1Snow Bunting - 2
Electric City - 2/19Driving the neighborhoods just east of the Coulee Playland - we found a Blue Jay. It was a bit flighty and avoided our cameras but was quite vocal. One of the residents said it had been coming to his feeder for around 3 days.Red-breasted Merganser - 6BLUE JAY - 1Cedar Waxwing - 20
Washington Flats - 2/19Neat spot in Douglas CountySharp-shinned Hawk - 1Northern Shrike - 1Cedar Waxwing - 20Townsend's Solitaire - 1
Banks Lake - Northrup Point - 2/19We were blown away by a pale breasted worn disheveled Barn Swallow at the boat launch! Brad took some pictures.Barn Swallow - 1Townsend's Solitaire - 1
Banks Lake - Steamboat Rock SP and waters 1 mile south - 2/19I actually counted the eagles in the park and along the ice. The gull flock was amazing - I can't get enough Glaucous Gulls!Bald Eagle - 98Northern Harrier - 2Rough-legged Hawk - 2Golden Eagle - 1California Gull - 2Herring Gull - 60Thayer's Gull - 3, 2 1st cycle, 1 adultGlaucous Gull - 2, 1 1st cycle, 1 adult
Quilomene Wildlife Area - 2/19Sage Sparrow - 2 - They are back!
Cheers and good birding,
Ryan ShawTacoma WArtshaw80 at hotmail.comwww.flickr.com/photos/shyalbatross