After seeing Khanh's posting and photos and hearing the weather report
yesterday, I had to try again to re-find the Spruce Grouse. My one and only
sighting of the species came from there in 2001. I did find 4, a female and
3 males on the road into Horseshoe Lake. I don't know how Khanh gets such
great poses from these birds. I took several pictures from the car window
while they grazed along and, for the most part, ignored me. Not once did I
get to see that red eye comb that they displayed so nicely for Khanh. I
don't want to grouse too much, though. I did get a few nice full-frame
pictures.

Birding was otherwise slow. I saw a Hermit Thrush on the way to Takhlakh
Lake and at the lake some Varied Thrush, Ravens, a Kingfisher and a Snipe
that surprised me as much as I surprised him. Also some Gray Jays that
joined me in eating some Cheerios.

Another surprise was a damselfly along the trail by the lake. It was only 40
degrees out at the time.

Mt Adams was beautiful behind Takhlakh Lake so I stayed till dark for
photos. My it gets cold up there this time of year!

Photos at: http://www.pbase.com/jvhigbee/c_current

Joseph Higbee
Spanaway WA
Mailto: jvhigbee at hotmail.com