January trip - day two

Sunday January 18th

I woke up well within owling hours at the Lakeside Lodge in Chelan, and got the familiar excitement.  I don't know why owls are any more exciting to me, but they really are.  I feel like it's worth taking the time to poke around and find them, and we often don't.  Even in Mason last year, I was able to personally find or get reports on owls from five different locations, but they still snuck down from a code 2 to a code three, right alongside Barn Owls, which also are hanging about in at least four different spots in that county.  

Yup!  These are the pictures this time.  I don't mind, and hope you love maps too.

Union Valley Road

I snuck out at 5 AM and made my way up to Lake Chelan State Park.  Barred, Barn and Great Horned Owl had all been recorded here before, but none showed up on this visit.  I passed by the hotel and came back through town to Union Valley Road.  This road has hosted some interesting owls in recent years, including Northern Hawk and Great Gray.  I climbed the surprisingly clear road and pulled over near the rodeo grounds.  My first few hoots were returned by a Great Horned Owl (51) as snow fell around me.

I came back down into town and up the north side of the lake.  A few Barn Owl sightings were spread around this area on ebird, and it was getting closer to sunrise.  Two stops on Boyd Road gave me two Great Horned Owls, but no barns.  The route worked out really well, as it brought me back to the hotel right in time for breakfast. I ate well, checked out and made plans for birding the town.

Chelan has a riverwalk that... Oh thank heaven, *finally* brought me past some European Starlings (52).  One home had filled feeders with a good number of siskins, House Finches and goldfinches.  Eurasian Collared Doves, California Quail, and House Sparrows rounded out a yard quite full 1-200 common birds.  The river below, taking water from Lake Chelan to the Columbia had more Lesser Scaup and Common Goldeneye (but none of their cousins as far as I could tell), coots galore, geese (including Cackling (53), and four Northern Shovelers (54).

I got to the end of the trail on the North side and scanned looking for Barrow's Goldeneye, Greater Scaup and Gadwall. It appears these are to be tricky ducks for me!  With a circuitous route back to my car, I spied another American Kestrel, and a Ring-billed Gull (55) passing overhead.

From my car, I navigated to an ebird pin for Red-breasted Sapsucker and ended up meeting the Chelan County compiler for the Washington Ornithological Society!  We talked about birds seen in town, at Beebe Bridge and Wapato Lake (both destinations for the day).  We exchanged information and will hopefully get out birding on a future trip.

Wapato Lake

With visions of amazing birds swirling in my head, I returned up Union Valley Road.  I had thought in my head that it made a little loop, but ended up following the snowy road for some time, hoping for a Northern Shrike, Rough-legged Hawk, or nearly any woodpecker, as they had been notably absent except for the occasional Northern Flicker.  I found the occasional flicker and some Black-billed Magpies, but decided eventually that taking the Taurus up into the Sawtooth Range in the snow might be unwise, especially given the lack of productivity.

Wapato Lake was the next stop.  As I drove, I peeked through the falling snow at rafts of birds on the lake, finding a lot of the same mixes:  Common Goldeneyes, Scaup (either clearly lesser or too far out to ID), coots and Canada Geese.  Wapato Lake was mostly frozen over, and I had to take care with where I parked the car, but I was able to find the huge numbers of Canvasbacks and Redheads (56) that had been reported here.  There are so few similar lakes in the county;  I'm sure I'll be back.

The Seahawks were starting their game against Carolina, and starting it poorly!  I was almost hoping to lose reception, but knew that a bad start was kind of par for the course with this team.  

Apple Acres Road is the arc west of the Columbia

I descended into town and down once again to Highway 97.  An early left-hand turn took me up Apple Acres Road, with a few sparrows, and back down.  I stopped at one point to inspect a Red-tailed Hawk, and heard a gravelly set of calls coming from the snowy slopes on the far side of the road.  Turning my binoculars to the birds, I got awesome looks at a pair of Gray Partridge (57).  This is a code 4 bird, which had me confused before.  I couldn't understand how any game bird could have a pattern of being in the county... But not every year, unless this is another case of hinky released birds.  They flew down the road, so I turned and drove up it.

I went next not to a Chelan destination, but to Pateros just over the border in Okanogan County.  The North-Central Washington Bird Race was underfoot, and there were some reports of large numbers of ducks at the waterfront from some of the participants.  

Pateros, just north of the Chelan border

Okanogan County is one of the most amazing birding areas in the state.  It is absolutely huge, and comprises so many different types of forest ecosystems (my apologies for using comprise correctly there.  I know it doesn't sit well on the ears to hear it used that way anymore, but trust me...).  It's definitely on the list of counties I will be exploring more in some future year, and I'm sure I'll find some life birds (White-winged Crossbill, White-tailed Ptarmigan, Snow Bunting, Boreal and Northern Hawk-Owls are all missing from my life list), but for today, it was an attempt to push my life list in the county over 150.

Canvasback (145), Ring-necked Duck (146), Greater Scaup (147), Common Goldeneye (148)... So close!  Oh well... Guess I've got to head back.

Beebe Springs

I stopped at Wells Dam back in Chelan, adding Horned Grebe (58... And back to the Chelan year list, apologies for any confusion) and spotting more Common Loons.  I went past the turn for Chelan and on to Beebe Springs.  This area has apparently been extensively restored, and I'm sure on a non-snowy day, I'll want to explore it more.  On this day, the highlight was a dozen or so Chukars (59) scurrying around the fields.  As I drove back towards Chelan, I stopped for a pair of Trumpeter Swans (60) on the Columbia, code 3 birds in the county.

Chelan to Entiat

Up through Chelan without a stop, and over the Terminus of the Chelan Mountains on highway 97, then back to the Columbia near Entiat.  I stopped at Will Risk Memorial Park and scoped the water, adding Red-necked Grebes (61) and a billion more coots.  I found a trail along the river in Entiat, and actually had a lovely, peaceful, and nearly bird-free tromp through the snow, amazed that I had still not picked up birds like Downy Woodpecker or Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

From here I made two stops on the way home:  one in Cashmere, where I met Debbie Sutherland and waited out the Common Redpolls (62) that I had sought the day before, and the Sleeping Lady Resort, where I got a Hairy Woodpecker (63).  I'm sure that Debbie and the Sleeping Lady will both show up in future posts, so I'll wrap this trip up.

Hairy Woodpecker - Sleeping Lady Resort

What a fun start to the year!

Near Stevens Pass on the way home