Lydia and other tweets,
On the backside of Cougar Mt. (the SR 900 side) we have point counts setup
and the following are fairly regular in this area. As far as seeing the
birds it depends on the species and how much its aggitated. For example I
was nest searching for swainson's thrush and had a pair buzz my head, if I
had wanted to I could have reached out and touched them as they went by.
Common birds in this area:
P.S. Flycatcher
Swainson's Thrush
Wilson's Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Brown Creeper
Winter Wren
Hairy Woodpecker
Black-headed Grosbeak
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Chesnut and Black-capped Chickadee
Dark-eyed Junco
Spotted Towhee
Bushtit
Steller's Jay
Hutton's Vireo
Western Tanager
Warbling Vireo
Purple Finch
Rufous Hummingbird
Orange-crowned Warbler
Ruffed Grouse is occassionally seen, though not often.

As to the identity of the slug, I believe that the slug described is a
variant of the bannana slug. We have often referred to this area on Cougar
Mt. as slug heaven as we so many, including alot of these such slugs. I am
not positive of the ID and if some is skilled in identification of land
mollusks please let me know if I'm right or wrong.

A few mammals of note in this area, especially this time of year are Black
Bears. The Salmon berries are just coming ripe. Last year black bears were
noted twice within the 50m radius point count.

Also of note, while mist netting in some sights in rural king county
outside of the greater seattle area, anna's hummingbirds have been caught.
This appears to be contradictory to beliefs that it is mainly a urban
related species. Could they be in other areas in low enough numbers that
birders are not detecting them regularly?


Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA

"Birds don't read bird books. (That's why they are seen doing things they
are not supposed to do)." -Mary Wood


On Mon, 14 Jun 1999, lydia wrote:

> Hi Tweeters,
>
> I hit the the trails on Cougar Mountain with the Mountaineers yesterday.
> What a perfect day for an eight mile round trip hike.
>
> What are the common birds one could see at Cougar Mountain? I'd like to
> bird the area. I heard lots of birds, now I want to SEE the birds.
>
> Oh, and the gross, ugly slugs were ozzzzzzing acros the trails. Is there
> such a thing as a "Leopard Slug"? One of the slugs had big black spots
> on the back half. The front half is a very pale greenish-clear color.
>