On Sunday, Sherry Thiel and I hiked north along the Pacific Crest Trail.
We hiked the trail into Sheep Lake, up to Sourdough Gap, and around to
the back side of Upper Crystal Lake, in which the views of Mt. Rainier
were very nice. Hawk migration was in an upswing giving us a three
accipitor day. Here are some of the birds seen during our hike and drive in.

Turkey Vulture - 1 at Packwood
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 flying over Tipsoo Lake.
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Northern Goshawk - 1 adult flying over Sheep Lake
Red-tailed Hawk - 3
Swainson's Hawk - 7 soaring over head to the south
Mountain Chickadee - many
American Dipper - 1 at Sheep Lake
Townsend Solitaire - 3
American Pipit - 30+
Fox Sparrow - 2
Golden-crowned Sparrow - 8
Cassin's Finch - 1
Red Crossbill - 1
Pine Grosbeak - 3

Also we had 2 Mountain Goats on Yakima Peak and 4 elk in Packwood. One
of the elk cows had a radio collar draped around her neck, making it
look like she was sporting some bling.


Dave Hayden
Centralia, WA
dtvhm att nwrain.com