Subject: White-winged Crossbills at Little Naches (Yakima/Kittitas Co)
Date: Oct 1 16:37:51 2001
From: Birdking88 at aol.com - Birdking88 at aol.com


Hey Tweeters,
Yesterday, my dad and I went over Naches Pass from Greenwater. The
highlight was a pair of WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS along the Little Naches
River, flying with a flock of 15-20 Red Crossbills from Kittitas Co into
Yakima Co (the river is the boundary here).

The first half of the day was spent on FR 70 and other roads in the area of
Naches Pass. Here are some of the notable things that we saw along these
roads:
2 Sharp-shinned Hawks
2 Cooper's Hawks
3 Red-tailed Hawks
70 Yellow-rumped Warblers (1 Myrtle in ever 5 or so Audubon's)
5 Mountain Chickadees
15 Ruby-crowned Kinglets

On the east side of Naches Pass, along FR 19 and Little Naches River, is
the Crow Creek Campground (DeLorme pg 65, 7D). We stopped here, and found the
following:
1 American Dipper
10 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
5 Chestnut-backed Chickadees
20 Red Crossbills
2 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS - a male and a female, my first lowland sighting of
this species, at 2800' elevation; further evidence that this year is looking
like an irruption year for them. The habitat in this area is not like
surrounding dry areas. There are many Western Larches here, as well as
Douglas and Grand Firs, and a few scattered Lodgepole and Ponderosa Pines.

We then headed a little further east on 410, and birded up Spring Creek Rd
(FR 1705) in Kittitas Co (just out of Cliffdell). The only notable bird was a
female BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK at 5200' elevation (at the road's end). This
bird is a very late straggler, particularly in Eastern WA. This area does
look promising for birds such as Boreal Owls, but we did not attempt for them
this time.

Instead, we arrived at Sunrise, Mt Rainier, Pierce Co, at sunset. The
near-full moon has risen, and the sun had just gone down. As we started to
walk towards the trail from the Upper Parking Lot, we joined with Bob and Pat
Woodley. Along the trail (we walked about a mile total) between about 7:35
and 9:15pm, we heard 3-4 NORTHERN SAW-WHETS, and 1-2 BOREAL OWLS. The
Saw-whets were mostly performing primary breeding calls, but also did a lot
of catlike whining and some insect-like chattering. The Boreal/s did some
skewing and we also heard them do the low-pitched, mournful "MOO-ah!" call
several times. We did not see any of the owls, probably because of the bright
moonlight (which also lit up the mountains, quite impressive). By the way, we
did not use any tapes. All the birds responded to imitations of their calls.

Charlie Wright, 13
Birdking88 at aol.com
Sumner, WA