Hi Tweeters,

Robert L. and I had a fine hiking/birding/owling weekend at Mt. Rainier and making a succcessful, last-minute dash for the VARIGATED FLYCATCHER at Windust Park before dark on Sunday.

We did some owling at Sunrise late Saturday night and had several strong responses from both BOREAL and NORTHERN SAW WHET OWLS. We only had a few glimples of one BOREAL OWL and heard a couple of others. The one bird did give a brief 3 to 5 second primary call before making a few muffled barks and skiew noises. We heard several BARRED OWL en route to the Sunset Visitor Center.

On Sunday, we elected to bird at Paradise. Around 9:30 AM that morning, we found three adult WHITE TAILED PTARMIGANS and one chick on the Skyline Trail not too far from Panorama Point. Each bird was drastically different in their fall plumage. The young immature male was rather rich in golden tones while the two other adults were extremely sooty with a few blotches of brown. Talk about blending in with their surroundings!!! The fancy alpine chickens provided a nice family portrait collection.

Other birds in the area included several flyby GRAY CROWNED ROSY FINCHES, one PRAIRIE FALCON, and a couple of PINE GROSBEAKS feeding on some of the mountain ash. Lots of Water Pipits out and about.

Of course, this is all trival compared to the Varigated Flycatcher:)

Thanks to the Denneys for the AMAZING find and sharing it so quickly with the birding community. It couldn't happen to a NICER pair of wonderful birders!!

I have posted some of my dismal and scant AZ trip photos along with this recent Mt. Rainier trip...

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

Good birding from the tuckered birder,

Khanh Tran (Portland, Oregon)