Tweeters,

On my 4th try, finally saw White-tailed Ptarmigan, a male and 5 young, on
the trail 0.1mi east of the snowfield east of Panorama Point,
out of Paradise, Mt Rainier National Park. This was in the area reported by
Stefan Schlick in his posting of 8/1. (I was pleased to meet Stefan as he
arrived as we watched.) This area also had the best remaining wild flowers
we saw all day.

We took the Skyline trail (Nisqually Glacier side) up from Paradise to
Panorama Point. It is tempting to try to cross the snowfield to the
ptarmigan area just beyond but the NPS has posted a warning and the only
party we saw trying to cross the steep slope without crampons/ice ax were on
the edge of disaster. We took the High Skyline trail to loop up around and
backtracked to the east edge of the snowfield. We saw the ptarmigan in the
last level stretch just before the trail descends to the snowfield. The
male was wary and stayed 30 or 40 feet away but the young foraged within 10
feet. We descended by way of the Golden Gate trail to make a loop. One
could make a shorter up and back hike by way of the Golden Gate trail.

We also saw a possible Prairie Falcon flying below us in the flats below
Panorama Point on the east side. It was a distant, fleeting view, but I had
the impression of a very pale falcon with distinct dark wing pits
(axillaries).

Scott Berglund
Seattle WA
dabergls at comcast.net