Hi again, Tweeters -
I got a bit carried away reading about Stints last night and forgot
to post about a successful outing to find a White-tailed Ptarmigan
yesterday -

Yesterday at 11:00, there was a beautiful male WTPT right by the
trail at the point recently described by several others on Tweeters.
I'd recommend reading these directions carefully, unlike I did, to
note that the recent sightings have come from a place _different_
than the earlier ones. Notably, the recent sightings [including mine]
are from a spot between the 2 snow fields east of Panorama Point,
where several rivulets cross the path. Uphill from the trail is a
nice waterfall. There is also an overlook close to here [not the
Panorama Point overlook, but similar]. After spending several hours
sitting at the 'old' spot and having trouble finding even Pipits, it
was only luck and timing that allowed me to see the Ptarmigan here --
I would have walked right by this spot because I'd only casually read
the recent WTPT posts.

For the GPSers in the crowd, I had my receiver with me and marked the
spots as follows:
Recent WTPT sightings: N 46 48.238, W 121 43.602, elev: 6708
'Old' WTPT sightings: N 46 48.200, W 121 43.321, elev: 6671
Also, the snowfields near the old site have pretty much melted away
since I visited 2 weeks ago, so this might explain the lack of
Ptarmigan there.

good birding,

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA
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