Tweeters,

We took advantage of the nice weather and headed up to Chinook Pass for a
hike to Sourdough Gap, one of our favorites. It's a three mile trek on the
Pacific Crest Trail. Snow covered about half the trail, in places up to up
to eight inches deep. Sections along the steep south slopes had melted off,
so, all in all, it wasn't that difficult a hike.

As we were putting on our boots at the pass we noted hundreds of Pine
Siskins flying about. After watching these nervous birds explode into flight
and settle back into trees, it was clear the cone-laden tops of Mountain
Hemlock was their tree of choice, ignoring the more common Subalpine Fir.
There were about 300 siskins in the several flocks as we started north to
Sourdough Gap. Along the trail, siskins zipped by every couple minutes, in
small flocks of 10-30, all headed south. A hiker passed us and zoomed on
ahead. As we lunched by the trail above Sheep Lake, he was already
returning. I asked "see any wildlife?" He replied "no, just birds." I
queried what sort and he said "lots of little birds." We arrived at
Sourdough Gap about noon, already having counted 700 siskins. Flocks were
screaming through the very narrow gap (about 20 feet), many strafing our
heads and missing us by inches! Over the next 2 1/2 hours, we counted 700
more siskins, easily the most I've ever found in one day in the Cascades.

Raptors were on the move too. I was surprised we saw so many birds thinking
migration should be just about over.We noted six, possibly seven species.
Sharp-shinned Hawk was the most numerous (19), there were three, possibly
more, Golden Eagles, two Rough-legged Hawks, one immature Bald Eagle, one
Merlin, and one Prairie Falcon.We saw no Red-tails. I can't ever remember
doing a raptor watch in the Cascades when I didn't see any Red-tailed Hawks.

Evening Grosbeaks were also on the move: we noted three flocks of 20-30 each
flying south.

We neither saw nor heard any ground feeding birds such as juncos or
longspurs. And, in stark contrast to last fall, we neither saw nor heard any
Pine Grosbeaks. Last fall and winter saw an invasionby this species into
Washington.

Two Mountain Goats posed nicely on the east slopes of Yakima Peak, both in
the morning and on our return. Their winter coats gleamed a bright cream
color in the low autumn sun, a beautiful study against the blackish cliffs.

Species list:

Bald Eagle - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 19
Northern Goshawk - 1 (?), disappeared too quickly, darn!
Accipiter, sp. - 5
Rough-legged Hawk - 2
Golden Eagle - 3+
Merlin - 1
Prairie Falcon - 1
Gray Jay - 3
Steller's Jay - 1
Clark's Nutcracker - 2
Common Raven - 5
Mountain Chickadee - 8
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 5
Varied Thrush - 3
Cassin's Finch - 3
Red Crossbill - 4
Pine Siskin - 1400!
Evening Grosbeak - 80

Andy and Ellen Stepniewski
Wapato WA
steppie at nwinfo.net