Subject: [Tweeters] A very fine morning up Little Rattlesnake Creek
Date: Jul 15 16:33:32 2006
From: Joseph V Higbee - jvhigbee at hotmail.com


Wednesday I headed over the hill just ahead of the rain. It caught me on the
Little Naches river so I kept going and after checking out Swamp Cr Rd and
coming down Clover Springs Rd, I ended up in some new territory (for me) on
Little Rattlesnake Creek Rd near Nile. Followed it up to the 4000' level
and camped by a small reed filled pond mentioned in the Birder's Guide to
Washington. Thursday morning was glorious. The sun rose in the east as hoped
for and it just got better.
While I was sitting in camp waiting for enough light to take pictures, I was
visited by a DUSKY FLYCATCHER (I'm pretty sure). Then I watched a pair of
CASSIN'S FINCH feeding their young in a nest overhead. I set up the camera
and was listening to the day come awake when the flycatcher returned and
posed for a few shots. As I was thinking about that I glanced out at the
pond and saw a BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD riding on the back of a cow ELK. As I
swung the camera around she spooked and the picture looks like a cowbird
chasing an elk.Saving the pond for later I headed down into a small gully
for the WESTERN WOOD PEWEE I could hear. Then at the pond I heard a SORA and
was able to get a couple pictures of it. Also there were about 25 +/- PINE
SISKIN around the pond. Later, as I headed back down the road I saw a
juvenile RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER and a juvenile THRUSH ( Swainson's I think)
both very near where I had photographed a RUFFED GROUSE the evening before.
Another bird from the day before was a GRAY FLYCATCHER just off Clover
Springs Rd.
Among the birds I saw but didn't get pictures of were:
House Wren
Western Tanager
White-headed Woodpecker
Red-tailed Hawk
Tree Swallow
Chipping Sparrows
Warbling Vireo
On the way home I stopped at Milk Pond for some dragonfly shots.
All in all, a really fine trip. Pictures are on my pbase site.
http://www.pbase.com/jvhigbee/current

Joseph Higbee
Spanaway, WA
mailto: jvhigbee at hotmail.com