Hi Tweets - Well, here we are again: Omak. Inspired by recent reports from Shep and Khan, and forecast of a little cooler weather, we headed over Snowy Stevens Pass this morning. True to form, sunshine broke out about Cole's Corner and stayed with us all day. Temps were in the mid 30s and snow pretty much disappeared by Casmere. Over Badger Mt. birds had also disappeared. Undeterred, we headed east from Waterville on RT. 2 to the Atkins Lk. area and turned north on L, an area where we had seen a Snowy Owl last winter. Very quickly, where Woods Rd. crosses 1st NE, we spotted one, then 2 owls, standing out quite starkly against the brown landscape. (Later in the day, Mitchell Von Rotz found 5 in the area!!) That was the highlight of the day. A Shrike, few scattered Horned Larks, and quite a few Rough-legged Hawks were the only special birds on the Plateau. On Bridgeport Hill Rd, the sunny weather and bare ground kept the Sharp-tailed Grouse out of the water birch. There were NO waxwings in sight near the junction of 97 and 17 where we'd had them in December and Shep's group had them last week. At Bainbridge St. Pk., we had an easy time (30 sec from getting out of the car) finding a Northern Sawwhet in the exact same perch where he was sitting in December! After a bit more searching, we flushed a large owl that flew a ways away and began hooting, proving it to be a Great-horned. So that was it: three FOY, all owls! Curious. Highlands tomorrow. Happy Birding! - Jon Houghton, Edmonds

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