Birds and bird trips

Are you seeing any interesting birds at your feeders these days? Over on Harrier Hill they have a male Evening Grosbeak along with their House Finches and Goldfinches. In Pine Forest a while back, I heard they had all three nuthatches and a White-headed Woodpecker and Clarks Nutcrackers coming to their feeders. Here on our little hill, I've seen Northern Shrikes a few times since the weather got cold and the Steller's Jays are coming around regularly. Yesterday Ken was outside and heard a call from the power line and found a Northern Pygmy Owl observing the place. I was able to get a few snapshots when it flew to the snag on the other side of the house.

It mostly just presented the back side of its head with the fake eyes.

On December 12th Dan Stephens will be leading a waterfowl field trip, starting in Wenatchee and going up the Columbia on the Chelan County side to Bridgeport and then down the river on Douglas County side. I plan to meet the group in Pateros and join them for part of the day. Anyone else want to carpool from the Methow down to the Columbia?

This is a good warmup for the Christmas Bird Counts that get underway on December 14th with Bridgeport leading the way. Another opportunity to carpool from the Methow and Wenatchee. Meredith would love to get a bunch of folks up there. It's a great count. In past years I've seen a Gyrfalcon, Redpolls and also the count's only Wild Turkey! The Twisp CBC has been moved up to December 16th so be sure and change your calendars for that one. Karen tells me Leavenworth is either the 15th or 16th. Grand Coulee with David St George is December 21st. Chelan is the 30th. Okanogan and Wenatchee are both on January 2nd. You can look at http://www.wos.org/ to find a complete list of CBC's around the state.

February 5th, Dan Stephens will lead his annual trip from Wenatchee to the Waterville Plateau. Always something interesting with possible Snowy Owls and Snow Buntings and other winter specialties.