Hi Tweeters,

My wife accompanied me on a hiking and birding trip to Teanaway Ridge today, a few miles west of Liberty, WA (from US-97 2 miles N of Mineral Springs campground, turn left on FS 9714, follow it 3 miles to the Iron Creek trailhead, take that trail 2 miles to the fork, turn left on Teanaway Ridge trail for 2 miles or so to viewpoint at 5000 feet, 1400 feet above parking lot). The hike was very nice overall, with views, wildflowers, many birds singing on territory, and was a nice workout to boot. The trail was open to mountain bikes, motorcycles, and horses, of which there was little evidence of any recently, and today we only encountered a few other hikers (the chance of rain on the east side of the Cascades may have deterred some people).

The highlights were a male Calliope Hummingbird posing halfway up Bear Creek trail, and a "Blue" Grouse female with several tiny chicks (it seems that this location is in the Sooty/Dusky overlap zone, and so the grouse may not be identifiable) at the high point where we turned around on Teanaway Ridge. Also, some unfamiliar vocalizations in the parking lot turned out to be a baby Evening Grosbeak begging for food from dad.

We were serenaded by almost non-stop birdsong the whole trip, including many Warbling Vireo, Dusky Flycatcher (there were a couple Hammond's at the parking lot), Western Tanager, Chipping Sparrow, Evening Grosbeak, and Yellow-rumped, Townsend's, Nashville, and MacGillivray's Warblers. There were lesser numbers of Cassin's Vireo, Lazuli Bunting, Cassin's Finch, and Townsend's Solitaire. We struck out on 2 hoped for targets, Williamson's Sapsucker up high and Ruffed Grouse down low.

A stop near the Teanaway River on 970 on the way to the hike produced a singing Gray Catbird, and on the way back, after passing through torrential rains that caused many drivers on I-90 to pull over, we stopped at Traveler's Rest at exit 53, where there were Black Swift overhead.

Good birding,
Evan Houston
Seattle, WA