[Tweeters] Okanogan County Big Day -- 177 species!

[Eric Heisey via Tweeters]

Hi all,

On May 27th, I embarked on an Okanogan County big day, accompanied by Methow Valley birder Dj Jones, attempting to find as many species of birds as we could in a single day. Located in North Central Washington, the state’s largest county boasts impressive diversity for its northern latitude. It sits at the convergence of several major ecotypes, encompassing the scattered conifer forests and grasslands of the Canadian Okanagan region, the Columbia River, the vibrant riparian forest of the Methow Valley, and the stunning alpine peaks of the North Cascades.

As such an expansive county, an Okanogan County big day necessitates some convoluted navigation. Perhaps the most diverse region of Washington lies around the Sinlahekin Valley and Okanogan Highlands, and we therefore made it our priority to start with these beautiful locales for owls and the prime morning hours. We then blasted south to Cameron Lake Road, for grassland specialties and the waterbirds which breed in the glacially gouged potholes present there. Afterwards, the Columbia River provided us with a fantastic showing of “big water” species and lowland breeders. As the evening came round, we sped up into the Methow Valley, reaching Washington Pass overlook before 6pm. Our day ended in the Methow, serenaded by the hoots of Barred and Flammulated Owls.

This was a true midnight-to-midnight endeavor, and by the end of the exhausting day we had managed to find 177 species of bird! This establishes a record for the most species seen in one day in a Washington county, breaking the previous record of 162 species on a Grays Harbor big day by 15 species! I have been waiting to post this to confirm this record, as well as confirming one addition to the list from a recording I took of a Long-eared Owl alarm call which I was immediately familiar with but have since had confirmed by a few people who knew this vocalization. It was a fantastic project, and I had a ton of fun piecing together this day! I hope to have the opportunity to attempt this route again in the future, as I believe a total of 180+ is very possible given some of our misses.

You can find the trip report of this adventure at this link:
https://ebird.org/tripreport/246144 <https://ebird.org/tripreport/246144>

Good birding,

Eric Heisey
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