Yesterday I had to deliver some family to an early airport departure so I
decided to get an early day in at Paradise. If you haven't been lately, the
flowers are at their peak this week. I got to the parking lot at 6:30 am
and hiked the Skyline loop. On the south end of the trail below Panorama
point I saw a fox at a distance carrying a large bird which was hard to make
out but size and coloration would indicate a ptarmigan. I also saw two more
fox on this trip, although I could have been seeing the same fox more than
once. It is interesting to me that as a youth, Ptarmigan sightings were
very common, and I never saw a fox in all trips my family made in the 60's
and 70's. I wonder if the fox population is at a high point, thus the
scarcity of ptarmigan?

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
Snohomish County