Hi Tweeters,

This weekend, I decided to take advantage of the nice fall weather and did some ambitious hikes to both Paradise, Sunrise, and on the Killian Creek Trail near Mt. Adams.

I did snap a few photos of scenic areas as well so birder can get a feel for the place. Not alot of cooperative birds this time but these are probably my best spruce grouse photos. The subjects were stunning in appearance! You can see why the male is one of my favorite NW birds!

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

TRIP REPORT:

Birding was slow at Paradise on noonish Saturday, but I did find two flocks of GRAY CROWNED ROSYFINCHES near the higher access point to Panaroma Point. There was a total of 125 birds roughly giving unsatisfactory distance looks but the birds were quite vociferous with their jhew, jhew calls as they flew by at one point.

Hiking along the ridge towards Panaroma Point and about 100 feet down, I spied on three WHITE TAILED PTARMIGANS that were about 90% white. Other than that only there were a couple of PRAIRIE FALCONS, and 5 BLACK BEARS.

I was highly entertained by a perky AMERICAN DIPPER near a stream crossing. On my way out to Sunrise for some owling, I had one gorgeous BLACK FOX that was very photogenic.

Owling conditions were ideal at Sunrise, with a full moon, little wind. I had a weak responses from two BOREAL OWLS and a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL near the Shadow Lake area. Lower down produced a calling BARRED OWL. The road will be closed on Monday for the year.

I hiked up to the Second Burroughs on Sunday afternoon and found a flock of 200 plus GRAY CROWNED ROSYFINCHES. On my way out, I had a small flock of 5 PINE GROSBEAKS near Shadow Lake. A very quiet day otherwise.

Weather condition at Horseshoe and Takhlakh Lake near Mt. Adams were more ideal this time and I was successful at find a few decent birds. What a beautiful area!

I found several species of woodpeckers including a pair of BLACK BACKED near Takh Takh Meadows, three AMERICAN THREE TOE WOODPECKERS near Horseshoe Lake, one RED BREASTED SAPSUCKER by Cispus River, and one PILEATED. An active NORTHERN GOSHAWK was patrolling the roads for grouse and a pair of PINE GROSBEAKS were present at Horseshoe Lake.

I had an extremely successful outing with SPRUCE GROUSE on this trip as found a total of 8 birds from four different locations. I found 3 adult SPRUCE GROUSE males within a 4 mile stretch from the Killian Creek Campsite to Horseshoe Lake. They were extremely beautiful and quite different from the Okanogan ones in terms of markings, size, and color.

I also found a female SPRUCE with 5 subadult chicks. This batch was the most cooperative for photos. I instructed the bunch if they didn't, I would turn them into Fancy Chicken Stew. Guess what?? They listened to me:) But after a cold fall day of birding, that does sound good. I also found five SOOTY GROUSE in the area as well.

What a great time of year to bird!

Good grousin,

Khanh Tran (Portland, Oregon)