Dear Tweeters,

On July 26 there were some nice birds on Little Mountain in Mount Vernon, Skagit County, Washington. I parked about 3/4 of the way up the paved park access road and walked up to the top. In the thick second-growth forest were lots of Wilson's Warblers, Western Tanagers, Black-headed Grosbeaks, American Robins, and Swainson's Thrushes. These birds were feeding on red elderberries and were all easy to watch at close range. A couple of Hairy Woodpeckers were busy along the roadside, too. Several Red-breasted Nuthatches were in the tops of the conifers.

On the summit, a single Vaux's Swift mixed with some high-flying swallows. A young Red-tailed Hawk gave a repeated, one-syllable chee call, quite different from the scream of the adult. Also up there on top were a Turkey Vulture and some Oregon Juncos.

On the walk down I could hear quite a few Spotted Towhees, Pacific-slope Flycatchers, and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, as well as a Steller's Jay.

Of course, these are all common birds, but most of them gave close looks as they were foraging, and there were only a few other people there, it being a cool Friday afternoon with a chance of showers. All in all it made for a very pleasant afternoon of birding.

Afterwards I saw a seemingly identical Red-tail perched on a phone pole by the ag-land in the Cedardale area (just south of Little Mountain). A brown Accipiter, probably a Cooper's Hawk, tried to catch something along the Blackburn Road. One bird that has not shown up again, however, is the Merlin.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

garybletsch at yahoo.com





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