Hi Tweets - Yesterday morning it was snowing in Omak, with just enough on the ground to give me hope that the Sharp-tailed Grouse would be out in the water birch and cottonwoods along Scotch Creek. Indeed they were! Eight were near the fire equipment station opposite the start of Happy Hill (formerly happy, pretty sad since the fires) Road. On into Conconully, it was remarkably bird free. In town, the ONLY birds we could find were (not so) Wild Turkeys that were everywhere, wandering the streets with the deer; not a single passerine there in about an hour of cruising the streets!?! The feeders at a house along the West Fork Rd. were empty, so not even any birds there. Giving up on Conconully, we headed back downhill. The snow had stopped and the Sharp-tailed gang had moved upstream and grown to 28 birds offering much better views in trees right at the WDFW field station. Over Happy Hill (several RT and RL Hawks) we finally found a couple of Mountain Chickadees for our first little birds of the day (there had been one No. Shrike and one Steller's Jay in the outskirts of Conconully). Salmon Creek Rd was pretty in the new snow but highly unbirdy. About 1030, we headed up Cameron Lk. Road out of Okanogan (the town) and took a short side trip on the Cameron Loop Rd. A stop in the pines at the third small lake was immediately rewarded with both Pygmy and RB Nuthatches, very close, and an overflight with brief pauses in the tree tops, by a flock of Red Crossbills. From there on, the Plateau had very little snow cover; despite about an inch of fresh, the fields and sage had much vegetation and ground showing. As a result, there were no Gray Partridges and only few Horned Larks showing; no Snow Buntings, not even a single bird at the Timentwa Rd. farm that usually has had hundreds. A flock of Wild Turkeys in a copse of cottonwood just before the Tree Sparrow place (just north of Timentwa Rd), showed up as rare on ebird! My go-to Tree Sparrow place disappointed with but one lone Song Sparrow and a couple of Magpies. From there, we saw no birds (couple of coyotes) for miles until just after the first farm in the area where the road takes several 90-degree bends. There, we caught a glimpse of a small bird in the grass and we quickly coaxed two into a small bush where they proved to be the sought after Am. Tree Sparrow. A few more Horned Larks along the road from there down into the apple orchards. One final look around the junction of 97 and 17 turned up a hundred or more House Finches in the cottonwoods both at the junction and down the road toward Washburn Is.; where have the waxwings gone? So, we left the sunshine and headed west into over snowy Stevens Pass and into the wet. As usual, despite the many miles between birds, this is a great area to bird in the winter! Best of luck to those fortunate enough to be headed there with the upcoming WOS trip, and Happy Birding to all! - Jon Houghton, Edmonds
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