Just returned from another winter birding trip up to the Okanogan
Highlands and surrounding areas. The weather was a bit dicey but
overall not as bad as I had feared it might be. Birding was really slow
out on the Waterville Plateau Friday, possibly due to the total lack of
snow. I only saw one falcon (a merlin) and a few rough-legged hawks in
the Highway 172 stretch between Highway 17 and Bridgeport Hill Road.
Fortunately, birding in the Havillah-Chesaw highlands was good with good
numbers of winter specialties. As of Friday, there was about a foot of
snow over most of the area making the place feel quite winter-like
despite the somewhat mild temperatures. Common Redpolls were frequent
with flocks all over Chesaw, Mary Ann Creek Road and Havillah Road. A
huge flock of over a thousand snow buntings was along Havillah Road
between Havillah and the Stitzmark Ski Area corner. A few more were in
a large horned lark flock farther down the Havillah Road towards
Tonasket. This flock held at least one Lapland Longspur. The feeders
along Nealy Road held a flock of 50 or so Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch and
farther along towards Chesaw there was a flock of 50 or so Pine
Grosbeaks feeding near the ground by the road. Another flock of 10 Pine
Grosbeaks was along Mary Ann Cr Road as was a singing Northern Pygmy-owl
(and lots of singing red-winged blackbirds in the frozen marshes). I
was there early and searched for Sharp-tailed Grouse in the birch
without luck. No luck with the Great Gray's either. Northern Shrikes
and Rough-legged Hawks (including one striking dark morph) were
throughout the area. I checked out the ducks on Pateros Lake near
Washburn Island yesterday (Saturday) and saw three Long-tailed Ducks
(one drake and two hens) among the ruddies and Common Goldeneyes.
Later, I tried for the Hawk Owl north of Chelan. I checked the places
where I saw it last month, but no luck. The wind was really howling up
on the mountain and there were several inches of new snow and almost no
bird activity. The much-reported Yellow-billed Loon was on the east
side of the Columbia River opposite Walla Walla Point Park in
Wenatchee. The wigeon were thick in the park including a pair of
Eurasian. A few photos of birds seen on the trip are at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/redpoll_6/

Gary Fredricks
Washougal, WA