[obol] Wallowas this Labor Day

[Stefan Schlick]

On this 3-day Labor Day weekend, Jon Katz from Davis, CA, and I probed the 
Wallowas for some good birds. Overall, birds were far and few between. We 
still managed to find a few good ones though.

On the way out, we had several Bighorn Sheep along I-84 between MP115 and 
MP120. They are truly huge!

At McCully Creek near Joseph, just as we were about to give up, Jon spied 
two female SPRUCE GROUSE 35ft up in a Western Larch munching on needles. 
This spot was only about 1/3mi into the trail. An adult NORTHERN GOSHAWK 
soaring overhead spooked these two birds temporarily, yet they didn't 
abandon their tree. Other goodies included 2 female WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKERS, 
3 NASHVILLE WARBLERS and 2 super-drab CASSIN'S VIREOS. A LEWIS'S WOODPECKER 
was flycatching from a snag near the parking lot. On two occasions, we 
flushed single grouse from the bushes near the trail. In neither case, we 
were able to id the bird.

We found a GREAT GRAY OWL on both the evening on the 08/31 (just after 
sunset) and again early on 09/01 about 0.2mi south of the intersection FR46 
and OR3 north of Enterprise. It was spooky to hear the coyotes howl from our 
campsite along the Boise-Cascade scenic loop.

On an overnight backpack out into the Lakes Basin out of Two Pan trailhead 
(Lostine), we hardly had any interesting birds. Spotted Sandpiper, a flock 
of about 20 Northern Shoveler and a few Kingfishers were the highlights ay 
Mirror Lake (elevation 7,595ft) among a Creeper, many Red-taileds, an Osprey 
and a few Sharpies and Cooper's en route. The Lostine Valley was dead 
otherwise.

The road up to Moss Springs was closed due to the Bridge Creek fire. This 
fire was sparked
by lightning last Thursday and was 35% contained as of Sunday at around 
noon. There was still smoke visible from La Grande when we headed home 
yesterday. So instead, we decided to drive up to the Buck Creek trailhead 
(take FR7785 and FR7787 about 2mi south of Catherine Ck State Park off 
OR203. There was no suitable habitat for Three-toeds, but the elevation was 
good. We spent a balmy night at about 5,800ft. A few RED CROSSBILLS near the 
trailhead and a family of 4 RUFFED GROUSE about 1mi north of the 
intersection FR7785 & FR7787 were the highlights from this area. The lower 
elevations along FR7785 look good for Flam - does anybody know?

Finally, there was a EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE on a wire in Imbler at OR82 & 
5th. We were surprised to see as many as 8 SWAINSON's HAWKS still lingering 
near LaGrande.

Stefan Schlick
Hillsboro, OR

_________________________________________________________________
Kick back and relax with hot games and cool activities at the Messenger 
Café. http://www.cafemessenger.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_SeptHMtagline1