Alan Grenon and I had what can only be described as a magical day at Paradise at Mt. Rainier.

Following up on the ptarmigan sightings posted this week by Ryan Merrill and Carl Haynie, we decided to try our luck at finding them. We headed up the Skyline trail to Panorama Point, starting the loop from the west side. After reaching the point, we continued east along the Skyline trail. Just after crossing the large snowfield at the east edge of the point Alan spotted a male WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN at the edge of the snowbank just downhill from the trail. This was at 9:45 a.m. After watching it for a few minutes I continued on a little ways, to attempt to photograph a GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH that was feeding along the stream. During this time Alan located a second male ptarmigan that was near the first male.

We continued east along the Skyline trail, as I was kind of curious if we could find the female ptarmigan with chicks that Ryan reported. Almost immediately after we reached the place Ryan had seen her, I spotted a ptarmigan chick downslope, and we quickly located 3 other chicks and the female, followed a few minutes later by another male. This was at 10:30 a.m. We then went back to check on the original 2 males, and they had moved east a bit, and had been joined by a third male. This was at 11 a.m., and by 11:30 they had moved downslope to the edge of a snowbank and were harder to see.

Alan and I had lunch at Panorama Point, then I headed east along the Skyline trail to try to photograph the rosy finch again. At 12:15 the males had moved much closer to the trail, and were at the edge of the small snowbank that the trail crosses. The males had settled in, and were preening or sleeping. We left at 12:45 to head back to Seattle. The day's tally: 4 male, 1 female, and 4 chicks.

Details: From Panorama Point, look east. There is a large very vivid green area that runs downslope from the trail, about 0.5 mile from the point. This is where Ryan saw the female with chicks on 7/19. We saw them here (along with a male) where the area flattens out at the bottom of the slope, near the snowfields.

The males were located at the east end of the large snowfield that the trail crosses just east of Panorama Point. They were downslope, associated with a much smaller snowfield. We saw them three times here, at various places downslope and associated with a snowfield.

The pair of rosy finches were in the area at the top of the first ridge just east of Panorama Point most of the morning.

Note that all ptarmigan sightings were from the trail; please stay on the trail! Also note that the snow is melting rapidly in this weather, and some of the smaller snowfields that I'm using as landmarks may melt away over the coming week.

I'd like to thank Ryan and Carl for posting their sightings. My experience with ptarmigan at Mt. Rainier as that while undoubedly they are above Paradise and Sunrise every year, it seems to vary each year as to where the reliable spots are to find them. (Remember when Mt. Fremont above Sunrise was the place to go?) Please keep ptarmigan reports coming this summer!

Mike Donahue
Seattle