Today Susan Pendleton and Susan Boynton met at our my house and we headed for Snoqualmie pass where we met up with Ken’s birding class and headed east. Part way up the west side of the Cascades on I-90 we encountered snow and drove in snow to the pass and for about an hour further before it mostly cleared. In addition a rock slide on the west side access to the Waterville Plateau so we drove all the way to Ephrata and came in from the East side. There was intermittent fog, but overall the visibility was not too bad, and the best bird of the day was at 14th and Division where while scanning for a previously reported Snowy Owl we discovered an adult gray-phase Gyrfalcon. We got nice scope views with the bird facing us before it took off and took a long direct flight until disappearing out of sight. It was relocated later at great distance.
Other good birds today were a Northern Saw-whet owl at the Bridgeport Park and a Townsend’s solitaire at Dry Falls. We also had several Gray Partridge.
Tomorrow on to the highlands.