Dear Tweeters,

Today I went up to Sibley Pass, which is reached via the Hidden Lakes Trail, off Road 1540, which heads up from the Cascade River Road, not far from Marblemount (Skagit County). It was a good day up there.

The most interesting bird was, unfortunately, one I could not identify. Just below Sibley Pass I saw a bird land on a big rock. At first I was totally confused--wheatear? Then I realized it was a shrike, a type of bird I have not seen in the high Cascades before. I got a fairly good look, but it was far away. I walked closer, but just as I started closing the range, I slipped on the heather and landed on my bum! When I got up, the bird was gone for good. I had managed to see a grey crown and back, black tail and wings, and a black mask. The mask looked fairly narrow. The bill did not look all that massive (thus, one field mark for Loggerhead, one for Northern). It was an adult bird--not barred. I could see some white in the wings and in the tail. The throat was whiter than the crown or nape. The bird had hunted from various perches on the rocks, catching insects and bringing them back to eat on the rock, in typical shrike fashion.

My question is, which shrike is more likely up there? I know that eastern-Washington migrants sometimes show up in the mountains this time of year. I also know that it is rather early for Northern Shrike, but I do not think it is all that much too early for them.

Besides the tantalizing Lanius, there were 22 Grey-crowned Rosy Finches, 6 American Pipits, 4 Sharpies, a Cooper's, a Red-tail, three Northern Harriers, and one, two, or three immature Golden Eagles (perhaps the same bird seen three times, in other words). It was fun to watch the marmots signalling to one another when the eagle showed up.

I also saw three unidentified Accipiters and two other unidentified small raptors. It was pretty good as a raptor vantage point, although there were slow stretches. There were raptors up there as early as 10:30 in the morning, but I saw most of the raptors between 11:00 and 12:00. It might have picked up later on; I descended at 1:35.

Down in the forest were 4 Grey Jays, a Ruffed Grouse, lots of Varied Thrushes and Yellow-rumped Warblers, and the usual common forest birds.

Both on the way up in the morning and on the way back in the afternoon, the Great Egret was present in the slough west of Hamilton at SR 20 mile 76.2. It had eluded me for a few days, but it still seems to be hanging out in the same spot.

Finally, I was amazed when I got home to find a Chestnut-backed Chickadee in my yard, perched in an apple tree a good 100 yards from the nearest forest. It was alone, and looked pretty nervous about being so far from the trees. Soon it flew back to the forested slough south of our place. Smart bird.

Good birding,
Gary Bletsch



Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search