Great Grey Owl at Bennington Lake

On our Bennington Lake walk today we re-found the great grey owl that Jon Lundak and Mary-Eileen Gallagher found there on February 1.  It was a foggy, cold morning so birding was slow.  However, we did see a pair of great horned owls, a varied thrush, and a few common mergansers on the partially frozen water.

If you want more information on the great grey owl, please email me housewren@blumtn.org

Ginger

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

Bennington Lake

We walked the lake today for the first time in two weeks.  It was good to get out there to see what birds were about. The lake is still frozen so there wasn't any waterfowl, but we did see some nice birds including a bald eagle, two great horned owls, several Townsend's solitaires, two northern shrikes, seven bohemian waxwings, two red-tailed hawks and two northern harriers.  Also, on Sunday Nat Drumheller saw a long-eared owl in the trees on the east side.  Ginger

Bennington Lake today

Today the walk was fairly typical for a December morning. Common mergansers, green-winged teals, and mallards dotted the lake.  Several killdeer were on the mud and the great blue heron was at its favorite spot on the beaver dam. A kingfisher guarded the east side of the lake, and there were large flocks of robins and juncos all around the lake.  Song sparrows, chickadees, white-crowned sparrows and Bewick's wrens scurried around in the brush.  Downy woodpeckers worked the small trees and noisy flickers let everyone know they were present. Townsend's solitaires sang to us from the trees, several yellow-rumped warblers darted around in the conifers and a great horned owl watched us with interest on the east side.  On the high trail a northern shrike, a red-tailed hawk and a northern harrier hunted the fields.  There are still plenty of insects in the air, but cold weather is coming later in the week.  It will be interesting to see how the birds react to the cold and snow.

Ginger

Milton-Freewater Raptor Survey

Mike and MerryLynn Denny, Rodger and I, have been participating in the East Cascades Bird Conservancy's Oregon Raptor Survey Project for four years.  We survey our route, which consists of 100 miles of roads around Milton-Freewater, once a month during the winter.  Today we drove our route for the month of December and observed the following birds of prey.

 

Red-tailed hawk - 150

American kestrel - 45

Northern harrier - 4

Rough-legged hawk - 4

Ferruginous hawk - 1

Prairie falcon - 2

Cooper's hawk - 1

Great horned owl - 1

 

Other interesting birds seen on the route were a flock of bohemian waxwings, a flock of horned larks and at least 50 savannah sparrows.  Of the red-tailed hawks, three were Harlan's and several were rufous morph and dark morph.  Usually on Couse Creek Road we find large flocks of wild turkeys, but today there were none.