Today I broke away from Marian’s condo at Lake Chelan to get up to Ferry County in hopes of finding the last 11 species there I needed to give me at least 100 species in each of Washington’s 39 counties. The day really depended on finding ducks, as they were the “low hanging fruit” in mid November that I hadn’t seen in Ferry. That really depended on whether the fresh water was still open, and I knew it was nearing time to freeze. Yesterday I had the idea to reach out to Donna Bragg, a birder I’d met at some point on one of Ken’s trips to this area, but didn’t have a contact of any sort. I asked Ken, no help there, and so asked Google. I got a phone number easily, and tried to text her. Whoops! A land line, so no luck and so I did the old fashioned thing and called. Tom, her husband answered, and Debbie is away on a birding trip, but he reached out to her, who reached out to a local birder, and so after a few calls I learned that the water is open here still! Big thanks to the Bragg family for going above and beyond.
As for the day it went great. A mostly overcast but dry and mid-40’s with only moderate wind day, so I left Manson at 5:45, drove across the Waterville Plateau to Grand Coulee, crossed the river, took 155 to Peter Dan Rd across to Hwy 21. About half way across to Rte 21 I entered Ferry County, and promptly saw a single Wild Turkey, not a species I needed. The rest of the day was spent driving south on 21 to the Keller Ferry, the back up to Republic, then on to Curlew Lake, and then across Hwy 20 and Sherman Pass to Colvile where I’m spending the night at the Comfort Inn.
Birding highlights were:
-First Ferry lifer was a Northern Shrike in a utility wire, the first of at least 3 seen today.
-Bufflehead in a small backwater on the road back to Keller Ferry (several more seen later in the day)
-Pacific Wren, heard when I stopped to see a bird on a wire that was a Song Sparrow, but with pishing it came out for a good look.
-At a roadside pool off 21 were 6 Green-winged Teal and a Lesser Scaup, both seen again later.
-Finally a Mallard in an algae filled wet area again off Hwy 21. (many later)
-A little later I stopped to watch in awe as a Ruffed Grouse slowly walked across the road.
-The Republic STP worried me at first, as the two easily visible ponds were pretty empty, but walking back to the back pond gave a lot of ducks, including 95 Northern Shovelers and several Common Goldeneye, bringing me to 98 species by noon of day 1. There were also Mallard, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Green-winged Teal, and an Northern Shrike there.
-From here I drove straight to the Rail Trail Wetland north of Curlew Lake. I can’t wait to put this site into BirdingHotspots.org as e-bird’s hotspot pin is at the Rte 21 end of the trail where I had to cross a creek on a fallen tree to access the trail. At the W. Curlew Lake Rd end is a good parking lot, toilet, and easy access. The trail though is great and is the top eBird hotspot in Ferry by species, and traversed a large shallow pond and extensive cattail marsh, and ends at the north end of the lake where by the parking is a nice tressle-turned walking bridge to look at the lake. There I added American Wigeon and #100 for Ferry Common Merganser, along with a loudly singing Marsh Wren, and on the lake from the tressle Red-necked and Western Grebe to end the lowland part of the day’s list at 103. I was having so much fun I forgot to have lunch, so about 3 PM Iad stopped at Curlew Lake SP, closed so I just ate quickly and headed back to cross Sherman Pass on Hwy 20. A few quick stops used up the last of the light, adding only Steller’s Jay at Sherman Pass on a snowy walk to the parking area.
Beyond Burger and fries at Zip Drive-in for dinner, and now to figure out what’s left for tomorrow.
After a night at the Comfort Inn, I was out before daylight to try for a couple of Stevens County birds at dawn. I headed for two places I’d never been, the mouth of the Colville Rived and Colville Flats, two pretty beautiful spots I realize. The Mouth of the river was pretty, but really few birds, so after a false stop at the recycling center (nothing at all) I headed for the Colville Flats where I added 4 new county birds, Herring Gull, California Gull, Western and Horned Grebes. It’s a pretty place but I made it a quick stop.
From here I headed back to Ferry County and at the Kettle River Campground I lucked out at 4 Trumpter Swans (alert birds) flew in to the wetland. Two American Coots were there too and an Evening Grosbeak was calling regularly, though not seen.
From here I finished my loop around the county, heading south along the river on Inchelium Road, and then across Silver Creek Road to Rte 21, in and out the Swawilla Basin Road (learning the west end is impassible, and back home across the same route I c
ame. The highlights were a single Ring-billed Gull along the river, finally Hairy Woodpecker on Silver Creek Road, several stops to put up a NOPY toot and getting nice flocks of chickadees, Pygmy and Red-breasted Nuthatches and eventually a pair of Golden-crowned Kinglets. At Swawilla Basin I finished strong with a huge flock of California Quail, a small group of White-crowned Sparrows, and a sub-adult Golden Eagle, bringing my Ferry County list to 113.
What’s next?