Jon Houghton and I are in the Okanogan Highlands
tonight (for his birthday!!) after birding our way
up through the Waterville Plateau and a VERY cold
day of birding in the highlands today. Yesterday
was pretty slow as we spent many hours searching
in vain for a Gyrfalcon but we had numerous Rough
Legged Hawks and some Bohemian Waxwings at the
intersection of Hwy 97 and Hwy 17. Snow was
almost non-existent and Horned Larks were much
fewer than usual. No Gray Partridges anywhere.
Our biggest miss was the Cougar that was seen in
Mansfield the day before we arrived. The low
temperature was 7 degrees!!

Today started cold and got colder with lots of fog
including freezing fog. The low temperature was
ZERO degrees fahrenheit and the high temperature
was 23. BUT it was BEAUTIFUL!! We worked hard
and drove most roads more than once. Highlights
were more than a dozen Rough Legged Hawks
including 2 Dark Phased, 5 Pygmy Owls, several
flocks of Crossbills including both Red and White
Winged (photos YAY!!), 50+ Gray Crowned Rosy
Finches and 20 Bohemian Waxwings in incredible
light at the Nealey Road feeders (where we also
had Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers in the same tree),
2 Northern Shrikes, a Merlin and a Pileated
Woodpecker. No Pine Grosbeaks and again nor
partridges.

Tomorrow we are off to Concunully and environs.
Hoping for less fog and more degrees.

--
Blair Bernson
Edmonds