Hi all,

Another fun weekend walking on the smooth sands of Gray's Harbor and rocky trails of Mt. Rainier. Shorebirding is sure fun and there is always something new to learn.

As I mentioned in my previous post, not much diversity or number of birds but the quality was excellent. It is always nice to meet a few Tweets in person and put a face to a name.

**********OCEAN SHORES/ MIDWAY BEACH/ TOKELAND************

The Oyehut Game refuge provided nothing out of the ordinary but early in the morning produced a dozen PECTORAL SANPIPERS, 3 RED KNOTS and a mixture of both dowitcher and yellowlegs species.

Walking at the end of Damon Point awarded me with separate flocks of 2 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS and 4 PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS (correction from previous post-a bit of dylexsia). In the one med-sized pond, there were 8 BLACK BELLIED PLOVERS, 5 WHIMBRELS, one LONG BILLED CURLEW and one crisply plumaged HORNED GREBE.

Ran into Lonnie Sommers at Mid-way Beach and we immediately heard one golden plover call and found a small flock of 8 PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS. Coming back 10 minutes later to get photos, I found another small group of 4 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS. Otherwise it was very sloowwwwww.

Tokeland was reliable for Marbled Godwits, let's say 1000 birds! The flaky Bar-tailed was nowhere abouts.

******************MT. RAINIER AT PARADISE***********************

I chose to bird Paradise and wasn't disappointed. Along the upper elevations of the Skyline Trail, there were a few GRAY CROWNED ROSYFINCHES. A few raptors were present including one PRAIRIE FALCON, one COOPERS and two SHARP SHINNED HAWKS.

Not too far from the little restroom near Panaroma Point, a beautiful MOUNTAIN GOAT made an impressive entrance and literally ran into me. I had to back away to fit him into my camera! Beautiful this time of year.

Heading down lower to the traditional ptarmigan site, I initially did not find them during the 20 minutes scanning. Giving up and heading towards the visitor center, I ran fortutiously ran into Gary Kelsberg and kharma happens.

I decided to show him the spot and joined forces with four pairs of eyes. It paid off, we instantly found one gorgeous female WHITE TAILED PTARMIGAN in her transitional winter plumage (50% white). Very stunning!! She walked along the trail and a male popped out of nowhere.

We were later joined by Paul Bannick and 3 other birds. A lifer for four people so it was fun to share the excitement and energy.

A side note: From my observations, the ROCK and WHITE TAILED PTARMIGAN hens molt faster than the males during the changes in seasons. Females are much ahead of the males.

The pair at Slate Peak photographed in June 2008 shows the female in entirely summer plumage while the male is 70% white. The recent pair at Mt. Rainier shows the female more in winter plumage. I will post photos of both situations. Fun stuff!!

I also included the same birds from Mt. Rainier photographed on 9/9/2008 which are very interesting patterned and seen almost a year ago for comparsion. Two weeks can make a difference.

I wonder what dictates and accelerates the molt this besides amount of daylight and temperatures?

Lastly, Gary and I heard some WHITE WINGED CROSSBILLS near the Comet Falls Trail. While stopping for a potty break at Longmire Museum, I heard and saw at least 3 birds high up in the conifers.

Here are some photos. I apologize if it is nausea for some but hope you get something out of it.

http://www.pbase.com/spruce_grouse/recent_summer_images_2009&page=all

Good birding,

Khanh Tran

www.ktbirding.com