A Day of Surprises
Today, Amanda and I covered the first survey route of this season for the East Cascades Audubon Winter Raptor Survey Project.
Traversing Badger Mountain and Waterville, we encountered thick fog and wondered what the day would bring. Fortunately, as we reached the Highland School House, the fog lifted and visibility improved. On that 20 mile loop going south from the school house and around, we very rarely see anything and today did not break the pattern.
We turned on to Highway 2 and headed towards Atkins (non) Lake. There was no lake this year. It sure would be wonderful if we got snow this year, but with the El Niño prediction of a dry north central Washington winter, it doesn’t look promising. This is where we’ve seen the Snowy Owls before. We don’t expect to see any today, they don’t usually get here until the end of December or January, but we drive past the rock piles where they usually sit.
“Whoa! Stop!”
I slam on the brakes and Amanda says, “There’s a Roughy!” Sitting in the grass, is a Rough-legged Hawk, almost invisible in the dry, grassy field. First bird of the survey! We’re happy to see the Roughy, and to know that they are migrating south from their summer home in the Arctic. (Surprise #1).
We head north towards Saint Andrews. On one side road there is a large copse of trees which often holds some American Kestrels, and usually a Bald Eagle. As we exit that road one Kestrel and a Northern Harrier rise up.
A mile up the road we head west for a 5 mile stretch, which usually yields nothing at all. But today we happened to look at the right place at the right time and a Prairie Falcon lifts from the grass. We pick up another Roughy, another Kestrel and another Harrier, four birds on a 5 mile stretch that usually leads nothing! (Surprise #2).
We head up Heritage Rd and stop by the grain bins to eat our lunch.
”Whoosh!” Overhead, from behind us at the grain bins, darts another Kestrel.
Usually, when we drive north on Heritage Road, we will pick up a Northern Harrier, maybe two. Today, as we drive along, we pick up one Harrier and six Rough-legged Hawks. SIX! I was going to call them the Heritage Road Hunt Club, because they were all hunting intently. (Surprise#3).
When we reached the end of Heritage Road, we turned east on Highway 172. There were so many ravens out today! We spotted two separate road kills where they were feasting, plus a field of harvested sunflowers, that still had sunflower heads lying on the ground. The ravens were going to town!
One of the roadside feasting spots also yielded a fully adult Golden Eagle. (Surprise #4).
The road to Mold is always interesting. Long ago, it was a little community. Now, it is an abandoned farm and a cemetery. Along that road is a red barn that we are always surprised to see. It looks like it’s in the process of collapsing, and every time we drive down the road, we are surprised to see it is still there. Frankly, I don’t know what’s holding it up.
At the end of the road is a farm where the farmer has told us before that he has owls living in his trees. We’ve never seen them. And we’ve never gone on his property to look. Today, as we drive down the road, I think to myself that it would be so cool if sometime we could see one of those owls. We go to the end and turn the car around. As we are turning around, I spot something.
“What’s that big dark blob?”
We pull out the binocs to look.
Amanda says, “That’s a Great horned!” Yay! We have seen one of his owls! (Surprise #5).
But the biggest surprise of all happened as we are exited the road from Mold, and had nothing to do with raptors or birds at all. We were heading west and looked out to the field to see a very large herd of animals. We stopped the car and whipped out the binoculars. Pronghorn antelope! We knew they were here. After almost being hunted to extinction, they have been reintroduced to this area by the Colville Confederated Tribes. We have seen them twice before. But not as many as this time! We did a quick overall count. They must’ve been at least 50, probably more. And they were speed demons! They were running through the grasslands, circling back and running again. So fascinating to watch! (Surprise #6).
It turned out to be a great survey day. One full of surprises.
Today’s Survey:
Red-tailed Hawk 2
America Kestrel 5
Northern Harrier 4
Golden Eagle 1
Rough-legged Hawk 9
Prairie Falcon 1
Great-horned Owl 1