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Hi all, several Olympia-area birders trekked over to the Okanogan this weekend, in a search for some winter specialties. Saturday morning, the "Olympia" Ken Brown & I drove over Snoqualmie Pass to meet Tom Bowden & Wenatchee’s Patt O’Flaherty, stopping at Getty’s Cove behind Wanapum where the exciting birds were VARIED THRUSH. We met Anders Price at what eBird calls WDFW’s “Ephrata Nature Area” to check out the wildlife feeder there. Mostly HOUSE SPARROWS with a smattering of GAMBEL’S WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS.
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Our next stop was at Trout Lodge Hatchery’s Rocky Ford fishing area to sort through the ducks and coots. Several VIRGINIA RAILS and stunning views of a SORA were nice, but those sightings were overshadowed by at least 3.400 SNOW GEESE flying in chevrons above us in the crisp blue sky.
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We continued north past the ancient canyon of the Missoula Floods, but the lakes from Soap Lake to Dry Falls were frozen over. We spent considerable time on the east side of the Waterville Plateau searching for SNOWY OWL, to no avail. Neither did we find any Buntings or Longspurs in the flocks of HORNED LARK. On the other hand, we were rewarded with nice views of GOLDEN EAGLES & ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, and a few GREY PARTRIDGE.
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A sunset stop at Bridgeport State Park resulted in our finding a vocalizing NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL with another answering its ‘toots’. The little owls didn’t seem too concerned about the GREAT HORNED OWLS in close proximity.
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On Sunday, our goal was to find a Great Grey Owl at the meadows near Highlands Sno-Park. We were there at first light, and again to watch a beautiful sunset, but the owls didn’t show. Talking with the skiers leaving the area is a little frustrating, as they all say, “Yes, we see the owls pretty regularly . . .”
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The group, now including Jayson & Ross and Heather Saunders, worked the Highlands, finding 5 RUFFED GROUSE and WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS along Hungry Hollow Road. Mary Ann Creek Road was pretty quiet, but the feeders at Nealy Rd held a few birds.
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We arrived at the Fancher Flats in the mid-afternoon, and had our only sighting of a single CHUKAR when Jayson scoped a sentinel bird along the ridge. Undoubtedly, there was a full covey there, but we only saw the one bird. We continued up the Siwash Creek Rd, but couldn’t find the Sharp-tailed Grouse seen there yesterday; a lone RUFFED had to suffice. We did get into a few mixed-species flocks and had good views of WHITE-BREASTED, RED-BREASTED, and PYGMY NUTHATCHES, along with RED CROSSBILLS (Types 2 & 4), MOUNTAIN and BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, and both DOWNY and HAIRY WOODPECKERS.
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We had planned ‘way too much birding for the amount of time we had in the Okanogan, so cancelled our idea of foregoing the drive to Conconully and checking out the Sinlahekin Valley and Loomis. Instead, we drove the Cameron Lake Road and west side of the Waterville Plateau, hoping to re-find the Gyrfalcon seen there recently. No such luck. We were able to find a distant PRAIRIE FALCON before we dropped off the plateau.
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Down on the Columbia River, we checked out Washburn Island, hoping to pull some Bohemians from the CEDAR WAXWING flocks. Again, no luck. There were a few hundred ducks and coots, with COMMON LOONS, PIED-BILLED and HORNED GREBES mixed in at the parking area at the Island. Astoundingly, we could not find a single sparrow in our walk!! The feeder was empty, and the passerine silence was deafening.
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We made one more pass along roads on the plateau, vainly hoping to see Bohemian Waxwings in Withrow, as we’ve found in some previous years. We sorted through a lot of Horned Lark flocks, and found another flock of Grey Partridge, before we heeded the weather reports and turned our grilles toward the west side. Moderate-to-Heavy snows on both Blewett and Snoqualmie Passes and Tiger Mountain slowed us down a bit, and caused Tom a 4 ½ hour wait on Tiger Summit. In all, it was a fun trip, even though we missed a few ‘target’ species.
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The worst day birding is better than the best day working. Cheers,
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Jon. Anderson
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Olympia
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