February Birding with Black - Day two (February 19th)

Sleep is for the weak

Thanks for this, Comfort Inn!

It's February, and I'm of a belief that one should get owls while one can.  I had emailed back and forth with Dan Stephens from Wenatchee on where to go, and his advice was No. Two Canyon south of Wenatchee.  Kevin and I hit the road early and started our search for owls.   It was interesting how different Kevin and I approached the whole thing.  As I mentioned in the last post, Kevin knows habitat.  As we ascended the road and slowly made our way out of town, I was inclined to make a lot more stops, but Kevin passed on many, pointing out features that weren't really suitable for some of our targets.  I would have been inclined to stop every half-mile or so, and to methodically call for small owls before working up to larger ones, but that may very well have left us out there a lot longer and missing good habitat. 

We did a bit of a hybrid of the two methods, and it worked out fairly well!  Our first owl was a Great Horned at lower elevations, making an odd nasal vocalization.  We left that owl behind by a few miles and started to get into habitat that looked better for some smaller owls.  We were pretty excited when we came across a calling Western Screech-Owl! (my 76th species in the county for the year) We listened and recorded the bouncy ball song before continuing up a little higher.  The road essentially ended, and the area looked a little sketchy, so we made our way back to the hotel for breakfast.

Wallhoranatchee State Natural Parkfluence Point Area

Flickers at a nest box

At some point, I know I'll get a letter from the people that represent this (these?) park(s), "Dear Mr. Brennan.  Thank you for your patronage of Wenatchee and its wonderful parks.  We are concerned, however that your posts may cause confusion for anyone attempting to visit..."   That discussion will end well, I'm hoping, and we can give this one continuous park one name, perhaps.  Kevin and I hit the park after some very much needed coffee, and watched the park slip from astronomical twilight into civil twilight, while we searched for a Barn Owl.

We had no luck, and I wondered if the one that had been reported early in the year had simply moved along.  We scanned the waterfowl, failing also to find any Eurasian Wigeon mixed in with the many American Wigeon.  The Greater White-fronted Goose that has been hanging about was still there, and still associating with its enormous cousin, a Graylag Goose.  Gadwall... also a miss.

Graylag, Canada, and Greater White-fronted Geese

We continued from Walla Walla Point Park northward to where it transitioned into Wenatchee Confluence State Park (with no mention of Horan Natural Area, which is also noted on maps), and I did start to pick up some new year birds:  Downy Woodpecker (77), Killdeer (78), Ring-necked Pheasant (79), and finally a pair of Bewick's Wrens (80).  Bewick's Wrens are pretty commonplace on the west side, but particularly tough to find in Chelan and some other neighboring counties.  It was easy to pick out the familiar song, and we did eventually get some nice views.  Kevin dutifully inspected  copses of trees for Long-eared Owls to no avail.  We tromped back to the car, scoped the dock from the State Park end of things, and then made a little detour.

A little detour

The Orondo Cider Works is a regular stop for my family and me when we are passing through this area.  We love the apple cider donuts, the fresh cider, and the apples.  I grabbed a veritable apple feast and sat with Kevin while we recovered from the long morning.  Some food helped, and Kevin even lifted some of his vegan restrictions for the sake of the donuts.

Back to Chelan

We returned to Chelan County, hitting a neighborhood in search of a hummingbird feeder (no luck), before we made our last stop in Cashmere.  We visited Debbie Sutherland's yard, finding her home, but sadly without full finch feeders.  Disease in the local finch populations necessitated the taking down of feeders.  Although we didn't find the Lesser Goldfinches that had been residents in her yard for well over a year, we did land on one more good find - a flock of Pine Grosbeaks (81) right on Pioneer Avenue.   I would have had a mother of a time picking these silent birds out without Kevin there, and in the end we got some good pictures of them. 

Pine Grosbeaks - Cashmere (photo Kevin Black)

We made our final stop at the nursing home down the street.  I have a standing invitation to visit their feeders and have a cup of coffee.  Today when we arrived, there were no birds at the feeders, "But you've got a couple of nice birds to look at here!"  One of the women pointed out with a nudge.  Kevin and I had some lovely conversation with them, but made sure to make a break for the door with our faithfulness intact! 

The trip ended a little early, but I came away with 81 species for the year, and a handful of very special birds indeed.