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Week Forty-eight, February 11-17, 2002

Sunday, February 17, 2002

Another owl and miles of some beautiful snow-covered country were the highlights of this second day of our birding trip. We travelled about 200 miles today, and along the way we saw some of the target birds that our leader Ken Brown wanted to help us find - a snow bunting that was sunning itself on a rock in the snow field above the Columbia River, a goshawk that we first thought might be a gyrfalcon when it burst from an abandoned barn, and a pygmy owl in a treetop outside the tiny town of Chesaw.

The photo above was definitely a highlight of the day. We were driving down a snowy back road between the end-of-the-road town of Molson, nestled up against the Canadian border, when Natalie had me stop and excitedly told me I had to get out and take a picture. From the looks of the scene, it appears that the prints in the snow spell out a tale of doom for some small prey, probably a rabbit. The clear wing prints of what was likely a hawk grabbing its prey and struggling with it for a bit before flying off to feed. It was just amazing to find the wingprints carved in the crusty surface of the snow.

Later in the evening, as darkness was about to fall and we were making the drive toward our hotel in Omak, we stopped in the woods to play an owl call in the hopes of drawing a rare great gray owl to the field where we were watching for birds, and the owl call on the cassette tape instead drew the attention of two jet black horses that came running toward us. The photo below shows them running through the snow toward the place where our six cars sat parked in the middle of the country road.

Saturday, February 16, 2002

Mud, snow, sunshine and birds including some special lifetime firsts marked the first day of our Eastern Washington birding trip. We drove in and out of the snow once we hit the summit at Snoqualmie Pass, and that snow made it easy to see birds like the tree sparrow (a first for me) and the horned lark standing out against the white background.

The highlight bird of our day, found after driving all around some mushy roads that threatened to swallow any car that would go to slow or stop in the wrong place, was a snowy owl. We found the snowy owl after our guide Ken saw it fly across the road in front of his car and off to the south over the heart of the Waterville Plateau. Rather than heading back down an especially muddy road to try to find the owl, we opted to drive a paved road around to the spot where we thought the owl might be, then back in on another road south of the owl. Spotting the snowy owl will forever be tied with what happened next. We drove to the next paved road and turned toward a small town, and as we turned again onto a muddy road to seek the owl I noticed the town name - Withrow. Withrow is the town where Natalie's grandmother was born and we had no idea we were in the neighborhood. And so, as Natalie cried about the surprise of finding a place in the roots of her family, we drove off to find the owl, and sure enough, Natalie spotted the white blob in the distant snow that was a snowy owl! We weren't close to the owl, and I couldn't get a photo, but we spent quite a bit of time watching the owl through the spotting scope.

Later we ventured back to Withrow, where we saw redpolls (another first for me) and set up one of the funniest birding scenes imaginable. Our six cars descended on this tiny town of a handful of houses, and we stopped on a dirt road in the middle of the town and jumped out of the cars, binoculars in hand to get our eyes on the redpolls. But behind us an entire house full of local residents emerged onto their front porch, asking what was going on. It was just too funny to see this whole group of people piling out of the front door in awe at these bird watchers. Of course, I should mention that we parked all of our cars in the middle of the street - one of only three or four streets in the whole town.

I took quite a few photos today, but many of them with the SLR on film rather than with the digital camera. And so for my photo today I use a shot of me taken by Natalie. It shows me in prime birding form - binoculars around my neck, camera bag around my neck and leaning on our spotting scope.

Friday, February 15, 2002

On the eve before Natalie and I head off for what we hope will be a fun and informative birding trip to Eastern Washington, I stepped onto the front porch to snap today's photo of a pink sunset. The forecast for the weekend's drive across the mountains is a chance of rain tomorrow, a chance of rain and snow on Sunday and on Monday. Bring it on. We are ready to roll and explore and hopefully see some birds we have never seen before...

Thursday, February 14, 2002

Yep, on this Valentine's Day it is obvious that spring is here. The calendar may not say so, but these yellow crocus blooming in front of the lavender along the front sidewalk.

It was another spring-like day, with high temperatures in the upper 40s and sunbreaks through the afternoon.

Wednesday, February 13, 2002

I stopped along Highway 16 again today to seek the red-tailed hawk that hangs out there, and sure enough I found it, sitting on top of a light pole with what looks like a twig in its grasp. Nesting time?

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

This morning while checking the RSI unit down at Puget Creek I noticed the large amount of change in the budding foliage and the emergence of skunk cabbage along the edges of the wetlands. The creek itself is flowing through the whole scene as usual, but along its shores and on the opposite side of the gulch the salmonberry are budding with new leaves and the skunk cabbage are poking through the mud as the surest sign of spring yet.

Monday, February 11, 2002

M and I ventured down to Titlow Park this afternoon to see what the cormorants, gulls and waterfowl are up to at one of Tacoma's most accessible waterfront parks. And while I did take photos of a number of birds, including what seem to be hooded mergansers in one of the largest ponds on the freshwater side of the railroad tracks, I opted to use the photo of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge seen from the saltwater side of the railroad tracks as today's photo. It was crisp and cool while we walked, even though the sun was peeking through the light clouds.

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