Hi Tweeters,

My wife and I spent the long weekend at the Scottish Lakes High Camp, a high-elevation resort for those who want to "get out there" without camping, located 10 miles NW of Leavenworth at 5000 feet elevation. We did as much hiking as the weather allowed, and I spent as much free time as possible seeing what birds I could find at this exotic location for me.

The top highlight was seeing my lifer Northern Goshawk, seen just before sunrise as a tantalizing bulky dark accipiter shape in a treetop. It and I stayed in the same location for over half an hour, as the light increased, revealing first a bold white eyeline, followed by light gray barring on the chest - a nice experience!

The camp held many conifers with abundant cone crop, and crossbills were everywhere. There were at least two, possibly more Red Crossbill call types flying around our cabin, and I finally heard/distinguished, and then saw hoped-for White-winged Crossbills as well, one or probably more flocks of 10 or so. I saw at least 3 different sized cones on the ground, and am told the main conifers at the camp are Engelmann Spruce, Sitka Spruce, and Western White Pine.

Bird numbers, though not diversity, were quite high. Many flocks of songbirds feeding from trees were moving through, containing Red-breasted Nuthatch, Mountain and a couple Chestnut-backed Chickadee, a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and warblers consisted of many Yellow-rumped, lesser numbers of Townsends, and a couple Orange-crowned and Nashville. Ground-feeding groups of birds in high open meadows consisted of dozens of American Robins (I think feeding on berries), Northern Flicker, and Chipping Sparrow (I wish I had been able to pick through the sparrow flocks more). I also saw one Townsend's Solitaire, and we flushed several Sooty/Dusky Grouse that never posed. I was surprised not to find a single other woodpecker species save the flicker, and limited owling produced no results.

We would love to go back to this beautiful area, with our next visit hopefully in the sunshine, and not in weather like this past weekend, which topped out just above 40 degrees, with frequent rain and even some snow!

Good birding,
Evan Houston
Seattle, WA