Dear Tweeters,

On Saturday I paid a birding visit to the Hardy Burn
and to Marblemount (far-eastern and eastern Skagit
County, respectively).

The burn is definitely not what it was in the 1990's.
Even at dawn, there were relatively few birds. I
scrambled up a bit higher than I have before, up to
the lower cliff bands, but that effort earned me
nought but extra charcoal on my trouser legs.

It is late in the season now, and the only species
that was singing much in the burn was MacGillivray's
Warbler. There were three or four of them along the
creek. About the only "mountain bird" I noticed was a
single Clark's Nutcracker. There were also several
Olive-sided Flycatchers, a couple of American
Kestrels, and small flocks of both Vaux's and Black
Swifts. Silent passerines included a Warbling Vireo
and a Yellow Warbler (both carrying food), a
Swainson's Thrush, and a Townsend's Warbler. I also
saw what looked like a ground squirrel of some sort,
but it disappeared in a flash of grey. Down in the
parking area, I heard a sapsucker squeal a few times,
but never saw it. Red-breasted Sapsuckers do occur in
the Hardy Burn area, though not as often as Red-naped,
so I cannot say which species it was.

In Marblemount I tried in vain to find an Eastern
Kingbird. They used to nest along the power lines
there. I did see lots of Common Yellowthroats and
White-crowned Sparrows in the brush below the power
lines, and a couple of Band-tailed Pigeons flew over.





=====

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com




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