Tweeters:

Breaking from my usual Fir I. coverage yesterday, I birded eastward sections
of Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom counties en route to Rainy Pass. My goal
was to find woodpeckers and e. WA migrants in the Mt. Hardy burn, which has
been quite good for both in recent years, although the most productive time
has been July-Aug. Most of my time was spent right at (in) the burn, in
fact I made it nearly to the top of Mt. Hardy, which is just is just north
of Rainy Pass in the n. Cascades.

Birds were few, despite a beautiful morning and crisp temps (it seemed to be
about 30 F when I arrived at 8). Still, quality reigned over quantity for
the meager 30 or so species found--I had both a SAY'S PHOEBE and a PYGMY
NUTHATCH.

Highlights and no-shows from Mt. Hardy and Rainy Pass:


Osprey 1 (flying south over Mt. Hardy, seemed odd location)

woodpeckers--none (!)

SAY'S PHOEBE 1 (high up in burn, first seen flying across burn and then
heard vocalizing from steep slope on south side of burn)

Gray Jay 3, Clark's Nutcracker 1

PYGMY NUTHATCH 1 (single bird seen by naked eye at point-blank range, found
amid flock of 10-12 RB Nuthatches and 15 CB Chickadees, at fir forest edge
of burn, upslope of parking area)

Mt. Chickadee 1 (heard only)

RC Kinglet 2/GC Kinglet 25

Hermit Thrush 1, Varied Thrush 6

Townsend's Solitaire 2

YR Warbler 4/Townsend's Warbler 1/warbler, sp. 1

finches (few--only Evebeak and siskins present)

Golden-crowned Sparrow 2/White-crowned Sparrow 2/Song Sparrow 1

Chipping Sparrow 1 (a bit late)

In addition, en route to the Mt. Hardy burn, I noted a LEWIS' WOODPECKER
atop firs at the edge of parking lot for Ross Lake Resort right along Rt 20,
Whatcom County, at about 7:20 am. Amazingly, I also concluded the trip with
a second LEWIS' flycatching from telephone pole right by the intersection of
Jim Creek Rd and Rt 530, in east Arlington, at about 2 pm. I watched this
bird for about 5 minutes.

The Mt. Hardy SAY'S PHOEBE is one of very few for Skagit County, with only
about 5-6 other records/reports. The PYGMY NUTHATCH is even more unusual,
just the second for the county, the first being a bird found June 26, 2000
by the Wiggers, if memory serves this bird was near Marblemount. Longer ago
a small flock of birds was found one September at Larrabee State Park at the
north end of Chuckanut Drive, but most of that park is in Whatcom Co.

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com




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