Hi Tweeters,

I decided to join in on the FinchFest at Stevens Pass this morning. As a relatively new, though avid birder, I had never had great looks at Red Crossbill, not to mention White-Winged Crossbill. So I figured that even if I didn?t find all of the Finch species being reported on Tweeters, I couldn?t go wrong.

I got up there about 10:30 this morning (I meant to get there several hours earlier, but I groggily set my alarm for PM not AM last night, and there were some traffic delays as well), and fortuitously made the first right turn you could make into the Stevens Pass ski area. This parking lot, which I?m not sure that all of the birders who have been up there have been to, was really productive (no guarantees for tomorrow, of course!). From this lot, I had Gray Jay, many Cassin?s Finch, many many Pine Siskin, several dozen calling Red Crossbill, and a chorus of showy Evening Grosbeak. The highlight was walking to the edge of the lot towards the resort area, where Red Crossbill among others gathered grit from the ground 10 feet away. That crossed bill is a really cool adaptation!

I then walked up through the resort, to the parking lot on the other side, encountering Stellar?s and Gray Jays along the way, crossed the road, and headed up Skyline Trail past Employee Housing. I met someone coming down who had seen Pine Grosbeak near the first tower (I missed this one). I got all the way up to the first tower, and then the second tower, having seen only Pine Siskin for sure, with some heard, but not visually verified, White-Winged Crossbill (visual verification was definitely necessary for me, as I?m still getting a handle on all the finch calls). At the second tower, probably about 1.5 miles of pretty steep walking, I decided to rest for about half an hour, letting the birds come to me, and finally a flock came by, allowing me great scope views of 4+ Common Redpolls (lifer). On the way back down, I encountered several more Common Redpoll, and as I became familiar with their question-like clear upslurred call, I realized there
were a number around. I walked down past the first tower, stopped about 50 feet past, and chatted with a couple of other birders, while thinking that this was about the lower limit of where White-Winged Crossbills (WWCr) were being seen by most of the birders I talked to today. We then heard some calls that sounded suspiciously like WWCr, one of the birders spotted some movement, and then we were right in front of a group of about 8 (an extended family?) WWCr (lifer)! After accommodating us with great views of both sexes and showing off their amazing foraging style, they flitted off, and I glided back down the mountain towards home.

Some advice: No Red Crossbill or Evening Grosbeak were seen by me except in that first parking lot. The Common Redpoll seemed to be much more prevalent halfway between the first and second tower and higher. The White-Winged Crossbill definitely required some patience, and earlier morning would have probably been better for seeing many of these birds. I was wearing ankle high hiking boots only, which was workable, but I wouldn?t recommend it unless you?re a fairly strong hiker and enjoy occasionally plummeting ankle length or deeper into snow. On the way back home, probably about 10 miles away from WA 522, I saw an American Kestrel on a powerline in appropriate habitat, a farm surrounded by fields of grasses.

Evan Houston
evanghouston at yahoo.com
Seattle, WA





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