Hello Tweets,
I started to write a nice long rambling post about my weekend, but
realized that not much of it was particularly interesting so I'll just
boil it down to the facts.

After searching in vein for a Prairie Falcon on Canyon Road south of
Ellensburg I headed up to the Liberty area to try to find some
FLAMMULATED OWLS I ran into a couple of other birders (whose full
names I have unfortunately forgotten) on the way and we tried for a
long time before finally hearing one owl very poorly. He promptly
stopped calling once we played a recording. After the other birders
departed I continued up FS9712 a ways as well as FS9738, Old Blewett
HWY, and FS9711 without any other signs of FLOWs or COMMON POORWILL's
which were both target species. I believe I'm probably a little late
in the season for both species so hopefully I will a chance to try
again next year. There were GREAT HORNED OWLS calling from many ridges
above the locations I stopped at.

As I posted earlier, I found the PAINTED BUNTING on Saturday morning
along with a rotating group of other birders. The PABU actually moved
around quite a bit while I was there, and twice moved completely out
of the stand of trees it's been spending most of it's time in and fed
at two different locations nearby. I grew up with the Golden Guide to
Birds and could never believe that a bird that colorful existed in
North America. It was amazing to finally see one in person. Other
highlights from that location included a HOUSE WREN, LARK SPARROWS,
WILLOW FLYCATCHER, W. WOOD PEEWEE, EASTERN KINGBIRD, CALIFORNIA QUAIL,
a field full of BOBOLINK, several A. KESTRELS and one very vocal
BELTED KINGFISHER. I took this trip with very little notice and didn't
have time to do much preperation. Looking at some of the eBird lists
at and nearby location make me wish I'd had more time to plan. I
probably could have added at least half a dozen life-birds to my
anemic list with a little work.

I birded down the Havillah Highway and encountered a NORTHERN HARRIER,
several very cooperative SWAINSON'S HAWK's, and a few WESTERN
BLUEBIRDS before being flagged down by a nice couple I'd talked to at
the Bunting spot. They had just found the SNOWY OWL that Tammy
Bjorkman had reported on Friday. Since they hadn't seen Tammy's report
yet I imagine the finding came as quite a shock. They gave me very
good directions to the owl and I found it easily sitting on a pile of
rocks. There had been a fair bit of skepticism about the original
Snowy report while we watched the bunting earlier so I found it
humorous to confirm in person an hour later.

After enlisting the help of some locals I finally found the Highlands
Snow Park (I had been expecting it to be called Havillah Snow Park
like it is in eBird) and began my journey for my final target bird of
the weekend, GREAT GRAY OWL. Now I know what you're all thinking.
"This guy is going for GGOW in the middle of July at noon, how could
he possibly miss?" but miss I did. The snow park itself held no
surprises and after traipsing a few miles in 90 degree heat I
retreated to my car and headed back towards home.

I had hoped to bird along the Old Blewit Highway, but just as I turned
on to it I encountered an incredibly powerful thunderstorm and felt
lucky just to make it to the other side in one piece. I headed south
to Umptanum Road south of Ellensburg and finally picked up a few of
those E.Wa species I've never encountered. Specifically ROCK WREN and
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. Many WESTERN BLUEBIRDS were found in the area,
but they were all extremely flighty I could never confirm my target
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD in the poor lighting conditions. Just past where the
road becomes Wenas Rd. I had a group of at least 8 COMMON NIGHTHAWKS
fly over to the in broad daylight. It appeared that they were fleeing
a thunderstorm to the north in search of drier conditions. Also
located nearby were a couple of SAY'S PHOEBE'S and more WESTERN
BLUEBIRDS.

I turned around at this point and headed back to the Liberty area to
give one more shot to finding a FLAMMULATED OWL or possibly a COMMON
POORWILL, but given the wet weather I was unsurprised to come up empty
again.

Still, a very enjoyable weekend that left me looking forward to the
next time I can sneak away and make it to the dry side of the state.

Josh Adams
Lynnwood, WA
xjoshx at gmail.com