I have enjoyed reading all the posts about the Ptarmigans up at Paradise.
I'm glad so many of you have gotten to see them, and wish good luck to
anyone else who is going to look for them.

I spent this weekend up at my cabin on Samish Island with a few out-of-state
friends. Saturday, inspired by Scott Atkinson's recent report, we
hiked/scrambled up into and above the Mt. Hardy burn in far-eastern Skagit
County. He was certainly right in saying there is no trail and that it is
steep. We didn't make the summit but did have an enjoyable and challenging
10 hour hike on the mountain, with the bird highlight being several
Gray-crowned Rosy Finches that I was able to see quite well. I was hoping
to find Three-toed Woodpeckers but didn't have any luck. There was a pair
of Hairy Woodpeckers in the burn. The male had red on the forehead rather
than on the back of the head. I'm guessing that this was a juvenile,
similar to the bird pictured in the Sibley guide. I did not see a single
hummingbird the entire day.

On the drive back to Samish around 10pm there was a Great Horned Owl sitting
on the telephone wires near the intersection of Bayview-Edison Road &
Sullivan Road. Just after that a Barn Owl flew across Samish Island Road in
the curves before reaching the island.

Sunday on the north side of Samish we walked out in the mudflats while the
tide was out. I was happily surprised to find 5 species of gulls including
a couple Mew Gulls. There were also several juvenile Caspian Terns.

Highlights from the weekend follow. I included the banding codes for those
of you who are interested:


Friday 7/25/2003 - Samish Island

1 Great Horned Owl - GHOW - heard at the end of Samish Island


Saturday 7/26/2003 - Mt. Hardy:

1 Red-tailed Hawk - RTHA
3-4 Vaux's Swift - VASW
~8 Black Swift - BLSW
2 Hairy Woodpecker - HAWO
2 Pileated Woodpecker - PIWO
4-6 Clark's Nutcracker - CLNU
3-4 Violet-green Swallow - VGSW
2-3 Townsend's Solitaire - TOSO - adult & juvenile
2 Gray-crowned Rosy Finch - GCRF
3-4 Mountain Bluebird - MOBL - including one very bright male

Samish Flats:
1 Great Horned Owl - GHOW - on telephone wire, then flying on Bayview-Edison
Road
1 Barn Owl - BNOW - flew over Samish Island Road


Sunday 7/27/2003 - Samish Island - north side of island:

6 Common Loon - COLO - adult flyover, adult with 4 juvenile in water
15 Double-crested Cormorant - DCCO- 2 flocks flew over
125 Great Blue Heron - GBHE - clustered in a few large groups
4 Bonaparte's Gull - BOGU
2-3 Mew Gull - MEGU
3 Ring-billed Gull - RBGU
~25 California Gull - CAGU
~75 Glaucous-winged Gull - GWGU
~30 Caspian Tern - CATE - (including 5-10 juveniles)


Good Birding,

Ryan Merrill
Kirkland, WA
merrillr AT bc.edu