Subject: [Tweeters] Okanogan, Waterville etc This Weekend - Long
Date: Mar 5 10:45:34 2012
From: Blair Bernson - blair at washingtonadvisorygroup.com


Had a great trip focusing on Okanogan Highlands
and Waterville Plateau from Friday through Sunday
this week with stops along the way from Seattle
(over 800 miles altogether). Thank you to Shep
Thorp who provided some terrific assistance from
his earlier trip. Met up with Kenneth Trease from
Spokane to share the experience on Saturday in the
Highlands. Lots of snow and some overcast but all
in all great weather including 60 (after a low of
24) on Sunday. I missed a lot of targeted (or
wildly hoped for) birds but pleased with the finds
- a really great area. Total of 61 species for
the whole trip with the following highlights and
lowlights:

Owls were a big disappointment with the only owl
being a Northern Pygmy heard along Mary Ann Creek
road in the highlands. Missed on Great Horned
suggestions at the Mansfield Cemetery and the
Northern Saw Whet Owl at Bridgeport State Park
(which BTW is closed so you have to hike in to the
targeted grove). Also no serendipity that might
have provided Great Gray.

Finches/Buntings/Sparrows: Certainly not the
large numbers of either Snow Buntings or Gray
Crowned Rosy Finches reported by others, but we
did have a small group of the Rosy Finches at the
Nealey Road feeders (see discussion of "feeders"
below). Snow Buntings were found only along
Cameron Lake Road with scattered groups of 2 to 10
birds. Our best luck for the Snow Buntings were
along Timentwa Road. Maybe saw between 120 - 150
total. We had numerous small to large flocks of
Redpolls throughout the Highlands. Largest flock
was perhaps 100 birds. One foraging and quick
moving flock "may" have included a briefly seen
Hoary. Very very pale with whitish back and
scapulars noticeably much different than the other
birds in the group. An excellent place to find
and see them closely is at the Chesaw feeders.
These are at the Chesaw Tavern and they actually
have a sign out front that says "Redpolls Here".
Great place to stop - say hello to the owner and
support her efforts with some patronage. She also
reported a couple of gyrfalcon sightings which did
not produce a gyr for us. We also did not have
any crossbills but did find one group of perhaps
10 Pine Grosbeaks again along Mary Ann Creek road
where Kenneth also located a Pileated Woodpecker.
A very lucky highlight for me was finding two
Lapland Longspurs in a small flock of Horned Larks
along the lower part of Cameron Lake road. I also
had two American Tree Sparrows in a grove along
the central part of the road (near Timentwa).

There were many Rough Legged Hawks (more than two
dozen seen) in both dark and light phases
throughout the area. They outnumbered Red Tails
by perhaps 3 to 1. Red Tails were seen in many
phases as well. We also had a number of American
Kestrels, a Northern Harrier, many Bald Eagles and
4 or 5 Northern Shrikes. I had two Cooper's Hawks
- one soaring at the southern end of Cameron Lake
Road and another along the Columbia on the way
over. About 2 miles north of Omak along the
river, I had a brief sighting of what I am "almost
sure" was an Osprey. The bird disappeared quickly
behind some trees and we were traveling in the
opposite direction. I would not have given it a
second thought except that it seems early. It was
definitely not an Eagle.

No luck on Sharp Tailed or other grouse, but we
did have California Quail and I had two pair of
Gray Partridge in the stubblefields - one at
southern part of Cameron Lake Road and the other
near Mansfield on the Waterville Plateau.

Some advice/thoughts if you are planning a trip.
The warming weather (if it stays) will make many
of the roads (including most specifically Cameron
Lake Road) challenging. VERY muddy with ruts -
plan on a double or triple run car wash when you
return. Also the "feeders" on Nealey Road - at
least the only ones we found - are not real
evident. They are in a compound of buildings that
resembles a hippie enclave (said kindly) just
before you get to what I believe is Bartrow Road
heading north. We saw a couple of feeders only -
right in front of the house and we felt a little
awkward peering at them. We stopped by there
twice and there were few birds both times. A big
surprise however were the three PEAFOWL that we
startled and flew up into a nearby conifer. (We
did not count them on the list).

Last comments - I do not know if the Yellow Billed
Loon is still being seen in Wenatchee. I could
not find it at either Walla Walla Point or
Confluence State Park - both of which were a bit
hard to find BTW. Also I did not see any Long
Tailed Ducks at Washburn Island although I may not
have gone to the right spot. (I did not walk
across the causeway).

While there were not that many species and with
the exception of Horned Larks, Redpolls and Rough
Legged Hawks, fewer individuals than expected, the
area is beautiful and I would expect it to be very
birdy in the spring and early summer. I hope to
return at that time.

I have not posted pictures before, so this may be
wrong way to do so, but here is my try.

Thanks again to Shep for his info.
https://picasaweb.google.com/103072475474183849815/OkanoganMarch2012#