Dear Tweeters,

On Saturday, I went up Sibley Pass (on the way to Hidden Lakes Lookout, off Cascade River Road, Skagit County). This was the first time in five or six September visits that I did not see Grey-crowned Rosy Finches there. Raptor migration was good. The raptors were: one adult Golden Eagle, four Northern Harriers, one Cooper's Hawk, about ten to twelve Sharpies, a young Red-tailed Hawk, and an American Kestrel. There were also lots of American Pipits, a few of the more common warblers and sparrows, plus a Hammond's Flycatcher and a Golden-crowned Sparrow.

Here are a few notes on mountain migrants, to add to Rob Sandelin's observations from Friday at Cutthroat Pass. First, the raptors at Sibley Pass always seem to fly from west to east, almost invariably coming in and flying right over the pass itself, or else along the edges of a cliff just to the north. That's been the pattern I have seen there over the past ten or twelve years. On Saturday, there was a goodly breeze from the east, and the raptors were moving across quite frequently, about one bird every ten minutes or so. The wind died down just before two in the afternoon, and almost immediately, the number of raptor sightings dropped precipitously.

Also of note up there at the pass were two or three flocks of Vaux's Swifts flying right over the pass. I will sheepishly admit that I had lain down to take a catnip up there at about 2:20, and was awoken by at least one of these swifts about 20 minutes later. Two more flocks, about ten or twelve birds each, flew over in the next couple of hours. These birds were flying from east to west, the opposite direction that the raptors take. None of the swifts were calling, but I could hear their wings rushing by.

On the way down, a female Sooty Grouse with two 3/4-grown young were on the road, just half a mile above Cascade River Road. Also on the road was Pileated Woodpecker hopping about on the dirt road surface, acting more like a crow than a woodpecker.

The Cascade River Road is closed for repair of a washout, a few miles above the road to Hidden Lakes Trail. There were hordes of hikers on the Hidden Lakes Trail, most of whom probably would have taken the easier and shorter hike to Cascade Pass, had the road been repaired earlier. The Hidden Lakes Trail would be a better choice for birders in mid-week, in my opinion. It is difficult to bird from the trail when there are so many hikers, and going off-trail to bird in the meadow areas often requires negotiating heavily vegetated slopes.

Today I tried for seabirds from Samish Island, but did not find any jaegers or Common Terns, the two species I was hoping for.

At Jensen Access on Fir Island, I was surprised to find two Whimbrel in one of the dirt fields. They are hard to find on southbound migration here. Also at Jensen was an American Golden Plover standing on a log, between two Black-bellied Plover. Out on the water there at high tide were thousands of ducks, mostly American Wigeon with a few Pintail. There were also hundreds of gulls, mainly Ring-billed. Unfortunately, a jet-skier was making all of the water birds nervous.

At Hayton Preserve, shorebirding took patience. The only shorebirds that landed and gave satisfactory views were a few Killdeer, three Greater Yellowlegs, and a very few Least Sandpipers. A single Baird's Sandpiper was all that appeared, of all the wonderful "dirt-field shorebirds" that were out there a few days ago. A single Semipalmated Plover flew in and called a few times, then disappeared.

There was one interesting flock at Hayton that included several species of larger shorebirds, but they stayed far away and out over the glare of the water. Who knows, maybe there are more Buff-breasteds out there on Fir Island, since there are so many dirt fields to choose from.

Finally, from Hayton Preserve, I could see a very large flock of gulls or terns to the east. These birds seemed to be out at the estuary near the River's End Trail at the Game Range (Wylie Slough). It was too late for me to go over there. I could see at least ten Caspian Terns that were flying a bit closer to Hayton, but I was intrigued by the fast wing action of the birds over to the east. I was not sure if they were terns or gulls, but they looked small. There were perhaps two hundred Larids over there, if not more.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch ? Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA ? garybletsch at yahoo.com ? ?