Really appreciate
On Thu, Feb 3, 2022 at 11:25 AM Shep Thorp <
shepthorp at gmail.com> wrote:
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Hi Tweets,
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last weekend, 1/28-1/31 we had our scout trip in the Okanogan Highlands
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and Waterville Plateau for the WOS Winter Trip coming up Presidents' Day
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Weekend. The weather was cold with temperatures in the 20's degree
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Fahrenheit. Mostly cloudy with some fog. And plowed snow covered roads on
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the plateau, in the highlands and in Conconully.
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On Friday, we located three SNOWY OWL around Atkins Lake, Woods Rd NE and
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1st Rd NE, and one between H Road NE and G Road NE northeast of Mansfield.
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We saw a PRAIRIE FALCON on H Road NE as well. Tree Sparrows could be found
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in thickets on the plateau when scanned from the road. There were three
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NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL in Bridgeport State Park, but they can be very hard
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to find and take some time to locate. Please be very careful not to
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disturb these roosts as they are a real treat for all of us to enjoy.
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Saturday, we birded the Okanogan Highlands. Fancher Road was good for
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CHUKAR and GOLDEN EAGLE. With the cold temperatures and all the snow, it
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as a very good year for seeing Chukar everywhere. The lower section of
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Siwash Creek Road had two areas where we located SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. The
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upper section of Siwash Creek Road was good for many RED CROSSBILLS,
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CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, HAIRY
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WOODPECKER and PILEATED WOODPECKER. We picked up a WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER
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on Havillah Road near Oberg Road, and may have heard a White-winged
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Crossbill. The Highland Sno-Park was slow, with MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE and a
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fly over of a Woodpecker sp., probably a BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER. Scott
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Downes reported a Northern Goshawk in Havillah and Common Redpoll on
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Bolster that we missed. Chesaw, Bolster Road, and the Nealy Road Feeders
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(Highland Meadows) were slow. We did have great views of a NORTHERN PYGMY
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OWL on Mary Ann Creek Road between Chesaw Road and Fields Road. We dipped
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on Common Redpoll, Gray Crowned Rosy Finch, Pine Grosbeak and Bohemian
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Waxwing. There were plenty of NORTHERN SHRIKE around.
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On a very sad note, the feeder on Hungry-Hollow Road or the Knob Hill
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Forge, was not active. Gary Eagle, the home and forge owner, passed away
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in September from cancer. I spoke with his girlfriend who still lives in
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the home, she'll put out the seed I delivered in his memory. I don't
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anticipate the feeders will remain active in the future.
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Sunday we birded the Conconully and Cameron Lake Road area. We skipped
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Scotch Creek Wildlife area, as we had great looks at Sharp-tailed Grouse on
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Siwash Creek. Happy Hill Road and Salmon Creek Road were great habitat for
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Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Chickadees and Crossbills. We had great looks at
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RUFFED GROUSE on Salmon Creek Road. Conconully was slow, but we had
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fabulous looks at EVENING GROSBEAKS and probably 4-5 GOLDEN EAGLE. The
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butte along Riverside Cut-off is excellent for Chukar and CANYON WREN. We
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watched two Golden Eagle hunting the Chukar on the butte, very cool!
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Cameron Lake Road had about a dozen SNOW BUNTING between the loop road and
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Timentwa Flats. No big flocks. Scott Downes reported a Lapland Longspur
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mixed in with about 8 HORNED LARK on the south side of the road between
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Timentwa and the south entrance - the road was passable.
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Monday we birded around Lake Pateros and the Waterville Plateau. We
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skipped Bridgeport Hill, as this area was burned in 2020. In the morning
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Washburn Island was very productive. We relocated the HARRIS SPARROW that
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half our team found the evening before at the grain feeder on the far right
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of the Island. There were probably a hundred WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, with
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other sparrow, so we patiently waited to get quick looks of the Harris.
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There were four COMMON REDPOLL in the Alders near the feeder, and another
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hunting Northern Shrike. We had a fly over of 30 plus Bohemian Waxwing.
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The lake views were great for CANVASBACK, REDHEAD, RUDDY DUCK, HORNED
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GREBE, COMMON LOON, GREATER SCAUP, RING-NECKED DUCK, BUFFLEHEAD
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COMMON-GOLDENEYE and HOODED MERGANSER. On State Route 17 between SR 97
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(Truck Scales) and Bridgeport State Park, we bumped into a nice large flock
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of BOHEMIAN WAXWING (48.0423783, -119.6730715). Some roosting in Lombardy
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Poplars on the east side of the road, and many foraging on rotten apples in
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the orchard on the west side of the road. It was nice to see a big flock
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like this, and it's been a few years for me on these scout trips and field
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trips since I've seen one. Central Ferry Canyon Road, although not
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passable to the plateau, was good for additional Common Redpoll, Bohemian
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Waxwing, Pygmy Nuthatch, Mountain Chickadee and Hairy Woodpecker. We also
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had a beautiful HARLAN'S variety of RED-TAILED HAWK fly over. To end our
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day on the plateau, we found an excellent active scraping in the snow with
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active dumping of treated waste near the intersection of 15 Road NW and C
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Road NW on the northwest plateau. Here we observed 300+ SNOW BUNTING, 1000
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HORNED LARK, 6 GRAY-CROWNED ROSY-FINCH and 1 LAPLAND LONGSPUR (probably
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more as we heard them).
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Usually we see dozens of Rough-legged Hawks, this year we only observed
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4-5 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK over our entire trip which I think is a low count.
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Perhaps this species hunting strategies are just as nomadic as many of the
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other species we've come to enjoy in this area.
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I'll put together another trip report after the WOS Winter Trip, and I
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hope you have a chance to enjoy Douglas and Okanogan Counties this winter.
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There is a lot of fun stuff to see. Many thanks to all my contributors,
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Scott Ramos, Laurel Parshall, Jon Anderson, Ken Brown-Olympia and Ken
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Brown-Tacoma, Kyle Leader, DJ Trillium, Gary Kelsberg and Sarah Safranek,
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Liam Hutchinson and Elizabeth McManus, Tom Bowden, Dale Goebel, Bruce
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LaBar, Ed Pullen, Jacob Miller, Scott Downes and Sierra Downes, and
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Meredith Spencer.
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Be well, check the weather and the passes, and safe winter birding.
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Shep
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--
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Shep Thorp
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Browns Point
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253-370-3742
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