[Tweeters] Ferry County Birding

[PENNY & DAVID KOYAMA]

Tweets,
David and I were in Ferry County on Mon 5/22- Tue 5/23, arriving at Mud Lake via Okanogan Co around 3, in periodic light rain.  We were basically following Matt Yawney's eBird postings a couple of days earlier, on what was apparently a "lightening round" of birding, but at a slower, more elderly pace!  We found the Code 4 Eared Grebes he saw, but a pair, rather than a single bird.  We also had a Code 4 Wilson's Phalarope, twirling amongst the Redheads, Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Ducks, and other waterfowl.A few warbler species were seen in the trees down the road.
 
Nothing else special that day, but the next (sunny) morning on FR 53/Scatter Creek Rd, we had 2 Chestnut-backed Chickadees (Code 4) pulled in by tape with a crowd of Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees.  (We also had a Code 1 Canada Jay there, a species that has eluded us for  years.)  In March, we had birded Swawilla Basin Rd, located almost down to the Keller Ferry, thinking it might be great in spring migration, and it was.  We had 3 Rock Wrens (Code 3) and 3 Yellow-breasted Chats (Code 3) all in different locations.  It made me think of the late Bob Sundstrom's saying that getting your first of a  bird species is like getting the first olive out of a tightly packed jar--the others just tumble out.  At one stop, I heard a chat and David saw a Bullocks Oriole in the shrub.  I insisted that the bird was a chat, so played a tape, which confirmed my birding-by-ear when the chat quickly popped up.  Just after, both birds started singing, which was a real birdsong mess!  This was a very productive road with lots of Chipping Sparrows, a couple of Gray Jays, Lazuli Buntings, Western Tanagers, tiny Calliope Hummers, and more.  It  was a great day and a half for us in what has been a tough county over the years. 
 
It helped that we stayed in the serviceable Northern Inn (good beds) rather than going back and forth from Colville as we have in the past.  A great breakfast place with delicious sandwiches-to-go is Sitka Coffee Roasters.  And David, a Starbucks freak, even loved his latte there!
Penny Koyama, Bothell
 
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