Date: 3/16/25 6:02 pm From: Shep Thorp via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: [Tweeters] WOS Winter Trips to Okanogan Highlands and Waterville Plateau January 17-20 and March 7-10
Hi Tweets!
This year I led two WOS Winter Trips to the Okanogan Highlands and Waterville Plateau. Luck would have it that I was in Columbia with Mollee Brown, Yesennie Tapasco, Josh Covill and Manuela Franco with Hillstar Nature Tours during Presidents' Day Weekend. You can hear about the trip on Ed Pullen's Podcast, birdbanter.com #186. Trip Report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/331193. So I ended up leading Winter Trips over Martin Luther King Weekend 1/17-1/20 and last weekend 3/7-3/10.
The January Trip 1/17-1/20 was co-lead by Scott Ramos. We had good cold snowy conditions and many very nice sightings, however the diversity of sightings was down. The Waterville Plateau was good for GRAY PARTRIDGE, HORNED LARK, SNOW BUNTING, ROUGH LEGGED HAWK, GREAT HORNED OWL, NORTHERN GOSHAWK and PRAIRIE FALCON. We were unable to find any Snowy Owl or Long-eared Owl, and unable to relocate a Gyrfalcon reported on Heritage Road. Two in our group, Lisa and Cathy, got great photos of a Badger on Heritage Road. The Okanogan Highlands provided great looks of SHARP-TAILED GROUSE, NORTHERN GOSHAWK, NORTHERN PYGMY OWL, CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, PYGMY NUTHATCH, RED CROSSBILL and GRAY PARTRIDGE. We were unable to find Common Redpoll reported by Tom Bancroft and the Mountaineers on Bolster Road. Thanks to Allen Knue for a tip on a NORTHERN HAWK-OWL showing 5 miles west of Molson Lake on 9 mile road, which we saw in the evening as a one day wonder. Conconnully was good for GOLDEN EAGLE and PYGMY NUTHATCH. Roger picked up a flock of COMMON REDPOLLs that moved out too quickly to get the whole group on. Cameron Lake Road had additional GRAY PARTRIDGE. Bridgeport State Park had both NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL and GREAT HORNED OWL. Lake Pateros was good for all the usual ducks, we were not able to relocate Yellow-billed Loon reported previously. We observed 89 species, had some awesome sightings, but dipped on some expected sightings like Snowy Owl, Chukar, Bohemian Waxwing, Cassins' Finch, Lapland Longspur, Gray-crowned Rosy-finch, and Common Redpoll. TRIP REPORT: https://ebird.org/tripreport/319932.
The March Trip 3/7-3/10 had pretty good snowy conditions, but with much warmer temperatures in the 30's to 50's degrees Fahrenheit. The Waterville Plateau was good for SNOWY OWL on H Rd NE of Mansfield, HORNED LARK, GREAT HORNED OWL, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK and PRAIRIE FALCON. We were lucky enough to locate GREATER SAGE GROUSE at two undisclosed locations, my advice is to scan large areas with binoculars and scope, keep your distance at 0.5mile plus, and use your car as a "hide". The Okanogan Highlands provided nice looks of CHUKAR, NORTHERN PYGMY OWL, RED CROSSBILL, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE and GRAY PARTRIDGE. We observed an early WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER in the Highlands Sno-Park. I did see one last year in the Sno-Park the third week of March - both seem very early to me. There were unusually large numbers of AMERICAN CROWS everywhere. Conconnully and Cameron Lake Road were slow, I probably should have made the trek to Winthrop for other sightings, but that is a haul from my usual route. Heather and Tom let me know about Andy Stepniewski's report of WESTERN SCREECH OWL north of Omak Lake, which we were fortunate to be able to relocate. The NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS and GREAT HORNED OWLS continued at Bridgeport State Park. We observed 88 species for the trip. We were super grateful to observe SNOWY OWL, WESTERN SCREECH OWL, GREATER SAGE GROUSE, and clean up the CHUKAR. There were plenty of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS and WESTERN BLUEBIRDS to enjoy, but again dipping on hopeful Snow Bunting, Lapland Longspur, American Tree Sparrow, Bohemian Waxwing, Common Redpoll, Pine Grosbeak, Cassin's Finch, etc... TRIP REPORT: https://ebird.org/tripreport/338375.
I've been doing this trip for over 15 years now. Every year is different and holds exciting sightings that I treasure. However, I think the abundance of birds seems to have decreased over the last decade, which is concerning. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns? I do try to bird and report carefully and ethically, and solicit constructive criticism on how I can do better. I also LOVE to share sightings and ENJOY our public lands with their birds. I hope you can get out there and spend some wonderful time in our beautiful state. Thanks to ALL the fantastic birders who joined me on this year's winter trips!!! I look forward to seeing folks at the WOS Annual Conference in Yakima June 6th-June 9th.
Happy birding, Shep -- Shep Thorp Browns Point 253-370-3742
