Today’s survey got started a little late.  The tire pressure light on my car told me that the air in one of my tires was low.  I didn’t think it was a very good idea to take off on a more than 200 mile trip to the middle of nowhere, with the possibility of a flat tire.  So, I went into town to take care of it.

After that, we took off to drive our survey route on what was an absolutely beautiful day.  It had snowed the day before, and with the blue skies today, the landscape sparkled and glistened! 

We headed up Pine Canyon, went through Waterville (making the obligatory stop at the Highway 2 Brew for Chai Tea and a Mocha) and on through Moses Coulee. As we climbed out of the coulee and headed south of the Highland Schoolhouse, we could look back to the west. It’s amazing to see the expanse of the plateau, the cut of the coulee, and the Cascade Mountains in the distance.

We continued on east, eventually arriving at Atkins Lake, a non-lake because of a couple past dry summers. We took a look at the rock piles in the vicinity.  There are many rock piles scattered across the landscape, and in years past this is where we have seen the Snowy Owls.  It is a little early yet for them to arrive, although last year we did see one in December. The year before we didn’t see any until February, but then we saw seven!  We looked over the rock piles, but no SNOWs.  Maybe next month!

Continuing on, we turned on Rd 4 NE and saw an adult Bald Eagle in a stand of trees.  We don’t usually see BAEAs up here. 

As we pulled off the road to watch him, out of nowhere came a NOHA (Northern Harrier) chasing an AMKE (American Kestrel).  They put on quite an acrobatic show as the NOHA turned and dived and the AMKE evaded. Eventually the AMKE flew deep into the center of the trees and the NOHA departed. As we watched, we observed a second AMKE also in the trees.

Our survey this month revealed a large number of Northern Harriers, with the majority being males.  The large numbers of Rough-legged Hawks (RLHAs) we have seen in the past were nonexistent today.  We only saw three. The NOHAs were very active in the first three quarters of our route, bouncing along just above the ground or hovering above the fields as they hunted.

Often, we will look in the distance and see a little bump on a rock pile. The binoculars will sometimes reveal that it is a raptor and sometimes it’s just another rock. There is one place on this route which has a rock that has been the subject of debate more than once. But that’s a story for another time. 

As we passed the little area named Mold, we spotted a bump sitting in the field. When we stopped to look with our binoculars, we could see it was a NOHA.  We watched, hoping that it would lift off and fly. As it sat there, another NOHA came along and hovered right over it.  We wondered if we were going to see some territorial displays, but then they both flew off together.

Here is a summary of what we saw:

Red-tailed Hawk   1
American Kestrel   4
Northern Harrier   13
Bald Eagle 1
Rough-legged Hawk   3