Tweeters:



Was back in Skagit County yesterday, and--following an 11-warbler day back in mid-June and Gary's 12-warbler day shortly afterward, I had (!) another 11-warbler day. That said, the best birds were in the campground opposite the parking area for Rainy Pass--and some maps indicate that this campground and the drive loop is in CHELAN rather than SKAGIT County.



The spot was at an open slide/meadow area toward the north end of the loop. The loop forks, and with a sign saying "cars" (left) and "bus" (right) which rejoin at the restrooms. The bus loop goes right by an open meadow on the hillside above, bordered by Sitka (or Slide) Alders. This little area was thick with birds, including a pair each of Wilson's, YR Audobon's, and Townsend's, joined by others. The TENNESSEE was feeding actively in the alders, this individual quite yellow about the face and breast, but with obvious white undertail coverts and belly. There was a hint of gray in the crown and otherwise the bird fit the usual Tennessee characters with thin sharp-pointed bill, moss-green back, very short tail, creamy supercilium, and very animated behavior, among others.



This is an anomalous date since most WA birds have been in September, a few have been found in May and other months.



All told I had 40 species for extreme eastern Skagit County (and perhaps edge Chelan) from sites along Hwy 20, including:



Sooty Grouse 1

Vaux's Swift 1

Rufous Hummingbird 2

hummingbird, sp. 3

RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER 1 (Mt. Hardy burn parking area)

sapsucker, sp. 1 (heard only, possibly Williamson's but far off, Mt Hardy parking area)

woodpecker, sp. 2

Hairy Woodpecker 2

N. Three-toed Woodpecker 2

N. (Red-sh) Flicker 7

Pileated Woodpecker 1

Warbling Vireo 4

Empidonax, sp. 1

Gray Jay 4

Clark's Nutcracker 1

Com. Raven 2

Violet-green Swallow 1

Chestnut-backed Chickadee 10

Red-breasted Nuthatch 5

Brown Creeper 1

Winter Wren 6

Golden-crowned Kinglet 8

Townsend's Solitaire 1

Swainson's Thrush 23

Hermit Thrush 25

Varied Thrush 14

Am. Robin 3

Cedar Waxwing 1

Orange-crowned Warbler 2

TENNESSEE WARBLER 1

Nashville Warbler 1

YR (Audobon's) Warbler 8

Townsend's Warbler 27

MacGillivray's Warbler 6

Wilson's Warbler 2

W. Tanager 1

CHIPPING SPARROW 6

Lincoln's Sparrow 1

DE (Oregon) Junco 11

Brown-headed Cowbird 1

CASSIN'S FINCH 18

Red Crossbill 3

Evening Grosbeak 125



Most of the action was at the Mt. Hardy Burn parking area, where the CASSIN'S FINCHES (7 male, 11 female) joined a horde of EVEBEAKS in collecting grit from the ground. These birds were amazingly tame and put on quite a show. Both SAPSUCKERS and many other birds were here as well.



Scott Atkinson

Lake Stevens

mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com

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