Milton-Freewater Raptor Route

The Dennys and the Shoemakes drove our 100 mile raptor route east, south and west of Milton-Freewater on Sunday, January 18.  Fog conditions were much better for observing birds. However most of the raptors seen were perched or on the ground.  We found our first pygmy owl of the count - the highlight of the trip.  Here are the results:

    Red-tailed hawk - 189

    American kestrel - 27

    Northern harrier - 1 (lowest number in four years)

    Bald eagle - 1 (adult)

    Rough-legged hawk - 2

    Ferruginous hawk - 3

    Prairie falcon - 1

    Cooper's hawk - 2

    Northern pygmy owl - 1

Other interesting sightings were 1 northern shrike, about 35 wild turkeys, and only one great blue heron.

Ginger

Pine Grosbeaks

MerryLynn Denny, Priscilla Dauble and I hiked up North Coppei Creek Road on January 14 to try to relocate pine grosbeaks that MerryLynn found near the top two days earlier.  We found 9 of them calling and eating the shriveled remains of the fruit on an elderberry bush.  They remained within sight for quite a while as we began walking back down toward the car . Also on the downhill hike we saw a pygmy owl, and four chestnut backed chickadees.  The road was still covered with snow in places but with careful footing it was walkable.  The sky was clear and the air was crisp - nice to be out of the fog.

Ginger

Bennington Lake

After rain, wind  and a closed gate kept us away, several of us finally walked Bennington Lake on Friday. The water is once again open and very low - raging Mill Creek is not being diverted into the lake at this time. There were 50 plus common mergansers on the lake and over 60 canada geese.  Both Bohemian and cedar waxwings were found in the junipers and we saw three great horned owls.  We were surprised at the lack of small birds since it was a sunny, fairly calm day.  A few Townsend's solitaires tooted from the trees and one northern shrike was seen in a far away tree.  Robin numbers were high and there were two great blue herons in the mud.  Hawks seen were red-tailed hawk, northern harrier and American kestrel.  Twenty three deer were munching on the new wheat in the fields east of the lake.  Ginger