Last weekend a WOS group of a total of 17 people scoured Okanogan/Douglas/Chelan counties for winter birds. It was a decent trip, but we were somewhat short of our regular output. We had to work hard to get the specialties this time around and therefore were not able to spend enough time at some of the sites. Snowy Owl was missed for the first time in 10 trips.
On Saturday morning we tried for the Northern Hawk-Owl early, but came up empty. Thankfully, over half of the participants had seen the bird the day before. A close-up Northern Pygmy-Owl and a large flock of Common Redpoll at a house near MP6 of Union Valley Rd north of Chelan delighted the group. The Pygmy-Owl had just caught a small rodent and perched up for us a mere 20ft away. We checked various locations in the Bridgeport/Brewster area for Bohemian Waxwing, but came up empty. In the afternoon we headed up to the Waterville Plateau and got utterly skunked.
Sunday was our Okanogan Highlands day. We found a large flock with both forms of Gray-crowned Rosy-finches at the Grange Rd feeders and shortly after had even more at the Hungry Hollow feeders. Only the first 2 cars saw 2 Snow Buntings near Brugh & Davies, but Mary Ann Creek Rd performed: 3 American Tree Sparrows were in the riparian area only 0.3mi in coming from Molson. A single Common Redpoll flew over us here also. A little further down the road we found 9 Pine Grosbeaks working the hillside. The town of Chesaw had 2 Common Redpolls and the infamous Chesaw kingfisher. En route back along Nealey Rd, we found another flock of at least 8 Pine Grosbeak and more Gray-crowned Rosy-finches at the roost site west of Grange. We tried in about 6F to position ourselves for a Great Gray Owl to show up at the Sitzmark end of Muskrat Lake, but had to fold quickly due to the cold.
Early Monday morning we failed to find Sharp-tailed Grouse at Scotch Creek (the upcoming storm should fix this problem), but a group of about 20 Gray Partridge at the pull-out was a good consolation price. A nice Golden Eagle offered good views at the pull-out also. In Conconully we played hide-and-seek with a large flock of over 200 Bohemian Waxwings, but we later got excellent views of another flock of Bohemians along Conconully Rd near the intersection of Riverside-Cutoff Rd. The rest of the morning was spent along Cameron Lake Rd. All 3 nuthatches, Red Crossbill and a heard-only White-headed Woodpecker were easily obtained. At the south end we again failed to get Snowy Owl and Gyrfalcon, but a large flock of Snow Buntings offered great scope views south of Able Ranch as many of the birds were perched up feeding in the mullein. A Western Meadowlark north of Able Ranch was noteworthy, as was a large flock of blackbirds cruising around the fields nearby. We ended the trip early as snow was forecast to hit the passes mid afternoon. A group of 3 cars (including the leaders) had to do a penalty lap in the afternoon to try again for the Hawk-Owl. We eventually succeeded in getting great looks off Watson Place. We accessed by taking Sawmill Rd, then a left onto Open (???, or similar), another left on Nancy and a final left on Watson. We ended up walking about 1/3mi down Watson. Just before sunset we heard we owl sing twice (unsolicited, that is). On the way out it was back at MP6.4 of Union Valley Rd.
Thanks to the all the participants for their great work! These trips would not be possible without their input. Some confusion and amusement was provided by sharing the same radio frequency with the Tacoma Audubon group when both groups were working the Highlands on Sunday.
Stefan SchlickMicheal Fleming