[Tweeters] WOS Winter Trip to Okanogan Highlands and Waterville Plateau 2/17-2/20/2023

[Shep Thorp]

Hi Tweets,

We had great weather and some awesome sightings for this year's WOS Winter
Trip to OHWP.  Highlights included WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER, SNOWY OWL, SNOW
BUNTING, LAPLAND LONGSPUR, NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL, RED CROSSBILL, BOHEMIAN
WAXWING, PILEATED WOODPECKER, GOLDEN EAGLE, TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, CANYON
WREN, and PRAIRIE FALCON.  Dips included Sharp-tailed Grouse, Chukar,
Gray-crowned Rosy-finch, Northern Pygmy Owl, and low numbers of Gray
Partridge and California Quail.  Overall we observed 86 species.

The majority of our group met up in Cle Elum at the Pioneer Cafe for a warm
up of coffee.

Cashmere was great for LESSER GOLDFINCH.  We got to enjoy a large variety
of DARK-EYED JUNCO, mostly Oregon variety, but two Slate-colored variety
with gray concave breast lines, and one or two light gray headed-light
throated Pink-sided variety.  An adult SHARP-SHINNED HAWK showed up as well.

Walla Walla Point in Wenatchee had hundreds of AMERICAN WIGEON where we
spotted a single EURASIAN WIGEON.  Many good looks at other ducks and a
single SNOW GOOSE hanging out with CANADA GOOSE.

Badger Mountain was great for open pine forest birds with numerous CLARK'S
NUTCRACKER and great looks at a WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER.

We located SNOWY OWL at both the Atkins Lake area and on H Road NE of
Mansfield.  Yesterday there were two owls south of 1 Rd NE on both the east
and west side of K Rd NE/L Rd NE/Woods Rd (Heritage Road) simply sitting in
the middle of snow covered fields.  Friday we observed an owl on the east
side of H Rd NE just south of 15 Rd NE, NE of Mansfield.  There were
numerous HORNED LARK on K Rd NE/L Rd NE/Woods Rd north of 1 Rd NE, and
picking through the flocks we found several SNOW BUNTING and one LAPLAND
LONGSPUR.  We were able to find small numbers of SNOW BUNTING scattered
throughout the Plateau.  Friday there was a good size group of GRAY
PARTRIDGE on Heritage Rd between 12 Rd and SR 172.  There were numerous
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, and we had good looks of GOLDEN EAGLE and PRAIRIE FALCON
along SR172 east of Mansfield.

Thanks to the helpful tips of many, we were able to relocate NORTHERN
SAW-WHET OWL in Bridgeport SP along with a breeding pair of GREAT HORNED
OWL.  The Saw-whets were not in their usual roost trees, so it took some
time to find new roost sites and then try and find the little owl tucked
deeply into the boughs of the conifer branches.

Note: the Breadline Cafe is only open Tuesday through Friday, they have
changed their days open and would not take a reservation for Friday night.

Interestingly, we observed NO Chukar at the butte on Fancher Road, other
birders did hear a few and parties from the previous weekend reported a
single sentinel.  There were numerous BALD EAGLE and a GOLDEN EAGLE in the
area.  We were not able to find Chukar on our winter trip and Scott and I
only observed 5-6 on the butte off the Riverside Cutt-off Road during our
scout trip in January.

Siwash Creek Road was great for RUFFED GROUSE and RED CROSSBILL.  We dipped
on Sharp-tail, but had really nice looks of expected little guys like
MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, PYGMY NUTHATCH, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH and
WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH.

The Highlands Sno-Park in Havillah was good for CANADA JAY and GREAT HORNED
OWL.  We did not hear the Great Gray Owl like we had during our scout trip.

The intersection of Havillah Road and Hungry Hollow Road was great for
RUFFED GROUSE, RED CROSSBILL, PINE SISKIN and expected little guys.  We
were unable to relocate the White-winged Crossbill previously reported in
this area, but it was nice to see the Siskins.  Thanks to the tip of
another birder we observed approximately 30 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS at the Nealy
Road Feeder (Highland Meadows) and dropped off a bag of seed as per the
usual.

Along Davies Road west of Fields Road we relocated a PILEATED WOODPECKER.
Throughout our trip we had nice views of HAIRY WOODPECKER.

Conconully was great for BOHEMIAN WAXWING, CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, and a single
TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE.  There is a Mountain Ash at the back of the post
office that has been bringing in the Juncos and Solitaire.  The Waxwings
had been previously reported and we observed them in a Box Elder type tree
on Main Street.  I've observed high counts of Nutcracker in the Ponderosa
Pine harvesting nuts from ripe cones.  Again, we dipped on Sharp-tailed
Grouse at Scotch Creek Wildlife area, but Happy Hill Road and Salmon Creek
Road were great for little guys, Hairy Woodpecker and Ruffed Grouse.

No Chukar did we observe at the butte along Riverside Cut-off, but we had
great looks at CANYON WREN.

There have been a few wonderful reports of Gyrfalcon on the north side of
Cameron Lake Road.  Unfortunately, we were not able to relocate the bird,
but did manage to find a few SNOW BUNTINGS mixed in with HORNED LARK.
Other birders had reported large flocks of Snow Bunting on the north side
of the road, which we did not see.  We did have nice looks of ROUGH-LEGGED
HAWK, RED-TAILED HAWK, and BALD EAGLE.

Washburn Island was good for waterfowl, we observed a single CACKLING GOOSE.

We followed up on two tips for Sharp-tailed Grouse in Central Ferry Canyon,
but were unsuccessful.  The habitat is great for the Grouse to feed on
Water Birch when the hills are snow covered, but we missed them.  I'm
encouraged to hear that other birders have observed them in Central Ferry
Canyon after the burn on Bridgeport Hill Road and the loss of the Water
Birch in West Forster Creek Wildlife Area.  We were rewarded with plenty of
noisy PYGMY NUTHATCH down hill from the Packwood Cemetery and a few of us
got a quick look at a nice adult NORTHERN GOSHAWK that flushed from the
side of the road.

As with our scout trip, I thought the birding was a little slow as we
observed no Cassin's Finch, Gray-crowned Rosy-finch, American Tree-Sparrow,
and Common Redpoll.  We dipped on really fun birds like White-winged
Crossbill and Pine Grosbeaks.  My major target species Sharp-tailed Grouse
was only seen once on the scout and not on the field trip.  I also thought
it was unusual to see so few California Quail, and Chukar.  We did have
really nice experiences with Snowy Owl, Bohemian Waxwing, Northern Saw-whet
Owl, Red Crossbill, Clark's Nutcracker, Pine Siskin, Dark-eyed Junco,
White-headed Woodpecker, and all the little forest birds you would expect
to see.

Many thanks to all the wonderful participants on the WOS Winter Trip.  They
were a joy to bird with and did a great job of spotting and sharing their
knowledge.  I think there is plenty of good birding to be enjoyed on the
Plateau, around Lake Pateros, on Cameron Lake Road, Conconully and of
course the Okanogan Highlands.

Happy birding, and be safe!

Shep


-- 
Shep Thorp
Browns Point
253-370-3742
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