A group from Black hills Audubon (Thurston. Mason, Lewis Counties) with a visitor from Iowa, went to Paradise, Mt Rainier today. We had glorious weather, spectacular vistas, wonderful wildflowers...and pretty darn good birds, as well. We had one Rosy Finch, muliple American Pipits, and a total of four White-tailed Ptarmigans, as well as the more usual suspects (Common Raven, Gray Jay, Clark's Nutcracker, Mountain Chickadee, and the "rare" alpine American Robin, among others). One Ptarmigan was on the Skyline Trail west of Panorama Point, and three (2 females and a male) were east of the snowfield to the east of Panorama Point. We watched them foraging just a few yards downslope from us for about 45 minutes. I would have loved to be chasing other rarities, but remember, it was only last year that we were all climbing up to this same place to see these very birds. It was a great day!
Kristin Stewart
Olympia
kristinstewart01 at comcast.net