On Friday afternoon, July 10, I visited Mt. S. Helens, at Windy Ridge
overlooking Spirit Lake, and was pleasantly surprised to see the variety and
numbers of birds present along with some pretty spectacular scenery.
At Bear Meadow on the edge of the Green Zone, there were numerous gray jays,
both adult and juvenile, along with varied thrush, golden crowned kinglet and
dark eyed (Oregon) junco.
At Blast Edge, there were northern flickers, golden mantled ground squirrels
and least chipmunks.
There were ravens at Cascade Peaks.
At Miner's Car, there were numerous mountain bluebirds, violet green swallows,
tree swallows and hairy woodpecker.
There were numerous cliff swallows at Windy Ridge.
At Meta Lake, there were a pair of red tailed hawks, a falcon who was too
distant to identify. chipping sparrow, pine siskins, song sparrow and a
spotted sandpiper with three newly hatched chicks.

Joyce Lucas
Yakima, Wa.
AJBirds at aol.com