Hi Tweets,



Taking advantage of today?s gorgeous weather, I snowshoed up to Skyline Lake
above Stevens Pass. There were huge numbers of finches in the area,
probably due to the bumper cone crop on several different conifer species.
Among the large numbers of Siskins and Red Crossbills, I saw two
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS (one adult male and one female/juvenile type), one
COMMON REDPOLL, and one adult male CASSIN?S FINCH. I also heard a few more
Redpolls mixed in with the Siskin flocks, and heard a variety of calls from
flyover finch flocks that I wasn?t totally comfortable IDing. I suspect
there were a few more White-winged Crossbills in the vicinity.



All of these birds were seen along the trail to Skyline Lake, though they
were moving around a lot. This trail heads north from the parking lot on
the north side of Hwy 2 at the Stevens Pass ski area. The White-winged
Crossbills, Redpoll, and Cassin?s Finch were all about half-way to the lake,
at around 5000 feet elevation, in the vicinity of a large radio tower. I
checked the GPS, and this location is several hundred feet west of the
King/Chelan county border (on the King side). Other than finches, there
were few birds in the area ? Mountain Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch,
Raven, and Gray Jay round out the list.



Earlier, on the way up to the pass, we stopped in Skykomish, where there
were more finches ? a flock of 200 Siskins, with 40 Red Crossbills and 2
Purple Finches. They were all gathering gravel in the road just off the
highway.



Six species of finches in King County without a House Finch or Goldfinch!
It was a great day to be up in the mountains.



Good birding,

Matt Dufort

Seattle, WA


No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.11 - Release Date: 1/24/2008 12:00
AM