Hi Tweeters,

This weekend my family and I enjoyed some spectacular scenery and good
birding at Athanum Meadows and Mt. Rainier. Highlights included finding one
spruce grouse, white tailed ptarmigans at two locations, and one mountain
lion.

I started out by seeing one GREAT HORNED OWL perched on a post along HWY 97
in Goldendale, WA. A big surprise shortly before dusk was a big MOUNTAIN
LION that crossed HWY 97 along MP 16, just north of Goldendale. There were
up to a dozen or more COMMON NIGHTHAWKS along MP 20 to MP 21. They are
always fun to watch.

Inspired by Randy Hill and Andy Stepniewski's previous sightings of spruce
grouse near Athanum Meadows (31 miles west of Yakima), I was curious to
check out a new area to find one of my favorite birds. I was very impressed
with the habitat and what I discovered during the two hours. Thanks to Randy
and Andy for providing the insight and inspiration.

In this area, I was successful at locating one female SPRUCE GROUSE on a
logged road shortly before the Snow Cabin Campground. The female was found
early in the morning. Other birds in the area included three 'SOOT-DUSK'
GROUSE along the North Fork Creek Rd.

I assume these hens are sooty and look very different from the dusky grouse
that I have seen in the Okanogan and Wallowas. Please feel free to chime in
to confirm. I have submitted photos of both birds on my website for further
study. I notice the female duskies are much more heavily brindled and have
finer patterns on the wings than the sooties. I have only a seen less than
6 sightings of each species to make this accurate assessment to
differentiate the females.

There were also plenty of NASHVILLE WARBLERS (a dozen), a family of
MACGILLVRAY'S WARBLER, one AMERICAN THREE TOE WOODPECKER, and one female
HARLEQUIN DUCK. It was amusing to see her use the rough creek water
current, as she cruised by.

At Sunrise near the Mt. Fremont Lookout, I found one WHITE TAILED PTARMIGAN
not far from the lookout tower. It was about 75 yards down the rocky cliff.
Last fall, I found one hen with several large chicks also at the same
location.

Other birds in the area included several GRAY CROWNED ROSY FINCHES along the
patchy snowfields and high rocky cliff. There were lots of juvenile
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS AND CHIPPING SPARROWS.

We also explored Spray Park (entrance near Mowich Lake) and hiked about 1.5
miles pass the Spray Park meadows to ptarmigan habitat. It was an
invigorating 10 mile roundtrip hike, but definitely worth the time and
effort. The area had few hikers so we had the entire mountain to ourselves
until 11 AM. I really enjoyed the area compared to Sunrise. The flower
display at the lush meadows was fabulous but be forewarned, it is very
buggy.

After a couple of hours of exploring, I was successful at finding another
WHITE TAILED PTARMIGAN. Other than that, it was quiet except for some
hooting SOOTY GROUSE and one vocal SHARP SHINNED HAWK.

I added my femmes des grouse (spruce, dusky, and sooty) for those who are
interested as well as other Mt. Rainier photos.

http://www.pbase.com/spruce_grouse/updated_photos_&page=all

Good birding,

Khanh Tran (Portland, Oregon)