Rediscovering Okanogan Birds

Joe Meche is a member of the board of directors of the North Cascades Audubon Society and has been the editor of the chapter newsletter for the past six years. Joe has been photographing birds and landscapes for over thirty years and has been watching birds for more than fifty years.

All too often, it seems that we become complacent with our daily routines and choose only to remember some of those special places we’ve been. Other times, we simply decide to drop what we’re doing and return to those old haunts for an update. Such was the case for two of the first three weekends in June. After a bit of minimal planning and packing, we headed east by northeast to the dry side of the Cascades and the high country of the Okanogan.

Okanogan County is due east and just over the Cascade Crest from Whatcom County. It is the largest county in Washington state and is larger than Whatcom and Skagit Counties combined. From the wilds of the Pasayten Wilderness and the Loomis Sate Forest to the expansive grasslands bordering the Okanogan River, this sparsely populated area is very accessible and has something for everyone.

Part of the annual routine around our house entails the need to travel over the mountains to the environs of Eastern Washington, especially after a typical long, wet winter on the west side. By the time we get to Winthrop, after traveling over one of America’s most scenic drives—the North Cascades Highway—we always peel away our winter clothing in favor of summer attire.

Another part of the appeal of the northeastern corner of the state is the fantastic birds that can be found in a variety of habitats that range from extensive grasslands and sagebrush flats to the ponderosa pine, spruce and larch forests of the higher elevations.

Numerous small lakes and ponds provide nesting habitat for many of the birds that we see in our marine environments throughout the winter. There’s a distinct possibility that marvelous breeding plumage, bright sunshine and less cover combine to make the birds of the Okanogan easier to see and such a delight to the senses.

Winthrop is an easy three-hour drive from Bellingham and a good place to stop for an early lunch before you begin birding in earnest. To keep the bird theme of the trip in mind, we always opt for a delicious and filling lunch at the Duck Brand restaurant.

If it happens that we left Bellingham in haste, this restaurant is the place where we pull out the maps and plot our course for the next few days. Since we’ve been practicing this routine for many years, it’s usually just a matter of hitting all the familiar haunts.

On our most recent trip, our first stop after lunch was the always-productive Sullivan Pond, above Pearygin Lake in the Methow Wildlife Area. We always expect to find white-headed woodpeckers in the ponderosa pine forests surrounding the pond. We chose not to dwell on our lack of success with this elusive woodpecker, and focused on the incredible numbers of nesting red-winged and yellow-headed blackbirds, ruddy ducks, soras, an assortment of flycatchers and a pair of nesting northern flickers.

When there’s water in Sullivan Pond, the place is alive with birds. Down the hill and in the area on the west shore of Pearygin Lake, we found gray catbirds, western tanagers, Bullock’s orioles and nesting black-billed magpies.

The birds around Winthrop are fantastic in the spring; however, this year we decided to expand our horizons and venture a bit farther north and east than usual. As any east-side birder knows, however, you never pass up a chance to stop at the Loup Loup Campground if you’re heading east on Highway 20. We were not disappointed by taking this short side trip since we heard a pair of barred owls calling above the campground and observed pileated woodpeckers, Williamson’s sapsuckers and chipping sparrows among the campsites.

We continued along a series of back roads to Conconully, through the remarkable Sinlahekin Valley, and up to the remote border crossing of Nighthawk, picking up several species along the way, including lazuli buntings, MacGillivray’s and Townsend’s warblers, ospreys, Lewis’ woodpeckers and one adult golden eagle.

From Nighthawk, we ventured east, through Oroville, and discovered two remarkable lakes outside the community of Molson. Sidley and Molson Lakes are just south of the Canadian border and were literally filled with numerous birds of several species.

The yellow-headed blackbird is always on our list of birds-to-see east of the mountains and they were immediately evident at these two lakes. Common loons were nesting on the far side and well within range of our optics, as was a gigantic bald eagle nest, with at least one eaglet present. Three swallow species were abundant and coursing along the shoreline feasting on a fresh hatch of insects.

Male ruddy ducks, with their outrageous blue bills, were doing their spring struts to impress the females and discourage the competition. Also present on the two lakes were red-winged blackbirds, and a variety of ducks, including redheads, canvasbacks, greater scaup, Barrow’s goldeneyes, cinnamon and blue-winged teal and the ubiquitous mallards. Although we had been told to look for them, it was still an unexpected treat to see several black terns at the lakes.

On the drive between the lakes and Chesaw we were treated to an amazing variety of color in the birds along the way. It seems that western meadowlarks were singing their inimitable song from fence posts every quarter-mile or so. American kestrels were plentiful on the telephone wires along the way, as well. Western and mountain bluebirds and tree swallows were busy occupying the numerous nest boxes that have become part of the landscape on the east side.

You have to believe that man’s assistance has contributed to the increased number of cavity-nesting birds in this area. Never mind that we probably destroyed all of the natural cavities; focus on the fact that we’re trying to replace them with nesting boxes.

I’ve often said that, as incredibly beautiful as eastern and western bluebirds are, they could both learn about the true essence of the color blue from mountain bluebirds. In the clear air and bright sunlight, the male mountain bluebird is stunning to behold, especially in flight. “The bluebird carries the sky on its back,” wrote Henry David Thoreau. While Thoreau was probably referring to the eastern bluebird, I can only wonder if he ever had the pleasure of seeing a mountain bluebird.

East of Chesaw is a wonderful area of small ponds and lakes, dense forests and quiet nesting places for many birds. At Lake Beth, we stopped to search for a nesting red-necked grebe that we had been told would be “easy to find.” And there it was, waiting for us, red neck and all! This is one species that we see frequently on saltwater throughout the winter, so it was a special treat to find this one at its nest, so far inland. Another common saltwater bird in the winter is the common loon, and we found nesting pairs on Sidley Lake and later on Lake Bonaparte.

From our campsite on the lakeshore, we could hear the pair splashing about and yodeling into the night. This was the same sound we heard at first light. Few sounds in nature are as evocative of wilderness as the calls of a pair of common loons. It’s a pleasurable experience to fire up the camp stove and put on coffee water in the company of a pair of nesting loons.

After an early breakfast at Lake Bonaparte, the target species for the morning was the bobolink and we found them just down the road in the Aeneas Valley. Bobolinks are birds of hayfields, grasslands and open prairies and there are just a few places in Washington where they can be found. The first two miles of the Aeneas Valley Road is a reliable area to find them in spring and summer. The bubbling song of a bobolink is a fine way to start any day.

Farther up the Aeneas Valley, the roads fall into the primitive category and continue eastward to the Sanpoil River, south of Republic, and down into the expanse of the Colville Indian Reservation. The reservation is interlaced with a myriad of logging roads and has the potential for numerous species such as great gray owls, grouse, woodpeckers, crossbills, pine grosbeaks and red- and white-breasted nuthatches. Most notable in our crossing on the way south and west were the absence of other humans and the quiet of this vast tract of land.

We continued our journey south and west, following the Okanogan River to its confluence with the Columbia, and then to Pateros and the return to the Methow Valley. Before heading upriver to complete our loop, we stopped at one of the best birding areas on the east side, Alta Lake State Park. This state park can be crowded at times but the birds are fantastic before the camping season begins.

During the day, the park is alive with Bullock’s orioles, house wrens, Say’s phoebes, white-breasted nuthatches, mountain chickadees, Cassin’s finches, a variety of flycatchers and many other species. As darkness falls, poorwills serenade from the rough hillsides above the park.

We reluctantly ended our all-too-brief stay at Alta Lake and continued up the Methow, through Twisp, and back to our starting point in Winthrop. Three full days of serious birding necessitated a bit of refueling before heading west, over the mountains and through the woods, and back to Bellingham.

Okanogan County is just across the mountains and a certain cure for any seasonal maladies that might accompany the usual six or seven months of wet, chilly weather on the west side. When you consider the scenery along the way, the warmer weather, and the great birds of Eastern Washington, you’d be hard pressed to spend a better day or three anywhere else.

Of Washington’s 341 bird species, 17 percent of those species can be found only in Eastern Washington. Start making plans now to visit the Okanogan country next spring. You’ll be glad you did! §