Hello Tweets,

Yesterday afternoon(October 20th)we spent a nice late afternoon hiking the Pacific Crest Trail to just above the Dewey Lakes near Chinook Pass just east of Hwy.410 in Yakima Co. The weather was great,mostly clear and very crisp and the colors of all continue from much of the deciduous foliage. Birding remained quite slow,but a few noteworthy species were encountered before dusk. The trail was good and the evidence of a dusting of recent snow lined a few of the ridge tops,as well as higher portions of the trail. We scanned all nearby ridges for any lingering migrating raptors,which were few consisting primarily of Red-tailed Hawks and a few Cooper's Hawks.

A list of our most significant highlights of the afternoon included the following(including all raptor species):

1 Northern Harrier
5 Cooper's Hawks
1 adult NORTHERN GOSHAWK
8 Red-tailed Hawks
1 Northern Pygmy Owl
1 female AM.THREE-TOED WOODPECKER
5 Gray Jays
7 Clark's Nutcrackers
17 Am.Crows(observed migrating south together in a flock over the Dewey Lakes)
1 Varied Thrush(with several Am.Robins consuming available Mountain Ash berries)
3 PINE GROSBEAKS
14 Red Crossbills

After hiking we did some owling well after dark near Chinook Pass,where we encountered 3 calling BOREAL OWLS. All these birds gave their loud,distinctive "skew" call notes,but none of the birds ever showed themselves to us. Despite not seeing the birds it was great knowing they are still present in this area!

On our descent down from Chinook Pass to the town of Greenwater we encountered 3 Roosevelt Elk while driving at a safe speed along Hwy.410. 1 of the animals was a large bull with full antlers and 2 of the other animals were females and were all foraging along the side of the road alone.

Lastly,on our way home we ended the night with a BARN OWL observed flying along Hwy.410 at the eastern end of the Enumclaw city limits in King Co.



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit513 at msn.com