Instead of sitting in front of a computer for the long weekend, we took a
short trip on the following itinerary:

Victoria - Port Angeles - Yakima - Hause Creek - Mt. Rainier - Victoria.

Although designed more as an escape than a birding trip, we did find enough
birds that it's probably worth a post on "Tweeters". The Range and
Township coordinates listed below are taken from the Delorme atlas.

The crossing from Victoria to Port Angeles (September 2) was surprisingly
good for bird numbers. Highlights included:
1800 COMMON MURRES, 4000 GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS, 5000 CALIFORNIA GULLS and 4
SOOTY SHEARWATERS

Marine mammals put on a good show, with 5 DALL PORPOISES and a very close
MINKE WHALE providing some thrills to those onboard the MV Coho.

The remainder of the trip to Yakima was pretty much birdless.

On September 3, we set up camp at Hause Creek FSCG along the Tieton River
in Yakima County. This is definitely one of our favorite spots in the
state - an incredible diversity of habitats can be reached within an hour
of this place.

A drive up to nearby Bethel Ridge that day provided some good birding. The
best finds for we denizens of the coast were a male WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER
below the ridge (T14N R14E 17) and a family of high elevation (approx
5500') ROCK WREN'S, 2 adults and 4 fledged young below the microwave tower
(T14N R14E 8).

Discussions regarding crossbills seem to be popular these days, so I'll add
a few notes. Not having checked on RED CROSSBILL subspecies/groups
recently, I can't remember what numbers to use to describe them. At Hause
Creek FSCG (T14N R14E 18) on both September 3 & 4, there was one of the
giant interior forms with the slow lazy call. On Mt. Rainier near Paradise
(T15N R8E 13), were small very small numbers of the little guys (the common
coastal and mountain form). The apparent irruption of White-winged
Crossbills further east was not in evidence at all - not a single bird.

That's it!

Michael and Cynthia Shepard
Victoria, B.C.
mgs at orcatec.com