Hello Tweets,

Yesterday(Sept.26th)Ken Knittle and I birded Sunrise in the northeast
corner of Mt.Rainier NP from 9am-9pm, including a quick trip to Chinook
Pass for migrant raptor possibilities. The weather was great with mostly
sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60's, and much cooler after sunset.
Highlights included: 1 BOREAL OWL, 4 LONG-EARED OWLS, 4 PRAIRIE FALCONS, 1
OSPREY(late), 1 CANYON WREN(heard only), 1 LAPLAND LONGSPUR, 55
GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCHES, and 11 CASSIN'S FINCHES.

We started out at 9am hiking the trail to Mt.Fremont lookout from the main
parking lot at Sunrise, with excellent views of 1 PRAIRIE FALCON and 1
adult N.GOSHAWK just east of the parking lot. As we headed west along the
trail Ken heard a CANYON WREN from a cliff face to the north of the trail,
and an OSPREY and 1 more PRAIRIE FALCON that both followed the ridge north
of the trail towards the parking lot to the east. Continuing east towards
Frozen Lake, 11 CASSIN'S FINCHES and 5 G.C.ROSY FINCHES were well observed
a half mile east of the lake near the trail. At Frozen Lake 2 MERLINS, 2
COOPER'S HAWKS, and 1 PRAIRIE FALCON were noted soaring over the fields
west of the lake, with an additional MERLIN north of the trail to the
lookout, which flushed up a flock of Horned Larks with a single LAPLAND
LONGSPUR amongst them. We arrived at the Fremont Lookout at 11:30am our
last PRAIRIE FALCON of the day was noted, but NO W.T. Ptarmigan upon
searching, only to flush up a BLUE GROUSE in a isloted evergreen patch at
the lookout area, and great views of a single BLACK BEAR and 3 MOUNTAIN
GOATS for all the hikers to enjoy at a safe distance. Walking back to
Frozen lake a flock of 50 G.C.ROSY FINCHES were noted flying south from the
lookout towards the Wonderland Trail. We arrived back to the main parking
lot at 2:45pm, then travelled to Chinnok Pass for migrant raptors, then
back to the Sunrise area for owling. Chinook Pass was very quiet of
birdlife, except for a small sparrow flock on the Yakima Co.side at the
top, which included 4 GOLDEN-CROWNED, 2 White-crowned, 2 Lincoln's, and 1
Fox Sparrow. Raptors were few, with only single R.T.Hawk, and TURKEY
VULTURE present. We arrived back at Sunrise at 6:30pm, near the lower
parking lot, where we tried for some owls with great success. We started
out with 2 calling N.PYGMY OWLS, then 4 unexpected LONG-EARED OWLS(heard
then seen flying in the remaining light from sunset, as they circled near
us)followed by 2 distant Great Horned Owls, followed by 1 BOREAL OWL(heard
briefly giving an aggitated call note)at 8:30pm in the sub-alpine fir belt
at around 6800'.

Good Birding,

Patrick Sullivan