On Mon. 5/29/00 at ca. 5200 ft. elev. in Olympic National Park, while
walking along the Hurricane Ridge road beyond Hurricane Lodge toward
Hurricane Hill in a near-whiteout, I observed 2 Black Swifts suddenly
flying across the ridge from south to north just above the tree canopy amid
the heavy cloud cover. I got a good enough look with my 10X binocs to
clearly see their sharply pointed wings, larger size, & slower wingbeat.
About 60% of the snow cover remains here, mostly in sizable patches 2-4 ft+
deep. The road is still closed to vehicles beyond Hurricane Lodge. The
swifts, which I presume were migrating, were flying through a near-whiteout
of sleety rain. Visibility on the ground was < 50 yds, even less perhaps
where they were above the trees.

Bruce Moorhead
Port Angeles, WA
(bruceb at olypen.com)