Subject: Re: boreal birds
Date: Sep 9 23:49:41 1997
From: "S. Downes" - sdownes at u.washington.edu


Tweets,
Back from a shortened vacation due to a allergic reaction (and at 6600
feet there not much you can do but get down and get some help). In our
brief time up in the Tiffany Mt. area, the birding was great, but a few
disappointments.
White-winged Crossbills as Russell had said seemed to be everywhere, on
Sunday morning we had about 6 white-winged Crossbills near Tiffany
Springs (a lifer for me) and then I had 19 White-winged Crossbills at
Roger Lake about 4 hours later. The strange thing was that every crossbill
I saw seemed to be either a juvinile male (very yellowish) or a female, I
saw no males. The second nice suprise came a couple hours later about 3/4
mile up the freezout ridge trail. A male Spruce Grouse flew into a snag
about 10 feet off the ground. I thought about pictures (especially since
it was a lifer that had eluded me) and I thought there was no way that a
bird would stay still despite what reports had said that Spruce Grouse
don't fly when approached. Well I'm defiently wrong! I kept walking
towards the male grouse and took a couple of pictures and all he did was
fluff up his tail and look at me! I finally stood right under the grouse
at ten feet and the grouse just tilted his head and looked back at me.
Sunday night I had calling Pygmy Owl and Two great Horned Owls at Long
Swamp campground. Despite lots of trying there was no luck with Boreal Owl
(oh well, maybe next time). Boreal Chickadees seemed to be in good
abundance as I had them on about 60 % of stops. And a strange warbler
sighting to be was a Male Black-throated Gray Warbler that hung around in
camp for about 20 minutes before heading off to parts unknown. I would
think this would be a strange species for this area, do other people who
have birded this area have knowledge of this or other out of place
warbler species in this area? Could this be a migration corridor? All in
all, though I could only bird this area for two days not that bad,
considering I got most of what I was looking for (didn't have a chance to
try for Ptarmigan).
I would like to thank Andy for his expertise on the area and advice on the
area, it is a truly great birding area. Just hope next time I can spend
more than a weekend!

Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA



On Sun, 7 Sep 1997, Dennis Paulson wrote:

> To add to a few of the recent observations (I'm reading tweeters to see
> the response to my recent mystery-bird postings):
>
> Female Spruce Grouse at length on road to Long Swamp (not surprising),
> 29 Aug. I finally photographed this species!
>
> 5 White-winged Crossbills at Long Swamp, 29 Aug. These birds fed on mud
> just 15' from me, but the camera was in the car, darn it.
>
> Pine Grosbeak at Washington Pass, 31 Aug. This one whistled from the top
> of a tall spruce tree in response to my pygmy-owl call.
>
> Thank goodness there are a few birds to see when the clouds come in and
> the dragonflies disappear!
>
> Dennis Paulson
>