Tweeters,

I've spent the past few weekends off trail in the backcountry near Windy Ridge area of the Gifford Pinchot NF. I saw many great birds. Their was strong movement of both Neotropical and raptor migrants along the ridge tops.The highlights are below.

Sharp-shinned - 12
Cooper's Hawk - 4
Northern Goshawk - 6
Red-tailed Hawk - 3
Golden Eagle - 2
Osprey - 1
Merlin - 1
Band-tailed Pigeon - 35 (one flock)
Short-eared Owl - pair dive-bombing me around my campfire for ~ 1 hr
Great-horned Owl - 3
N. Pygmy Owl - 2
Calliope Hummingbird - 1
Three-toed Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flickers - ~100
Pileated Woodpecker - surprisingly common in areas where most of the trees < 8" diameter
Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1
Warbling Vireo - 2
WESTERN SCRUB-JAY - 1, probably my weirdest bird, strange to see this guy "shreenking" away at 4000 feet in a spruce forest, disperser? Where from?
Mountain & Chestnut-backed Chickadee - common
Varied Thrush - many
Hermit Thrush - 50-75
Orange-crowed Warbler - 100-150
Nashville Warbler - 2
Yellow Warbler - 4
Yellow-rumped (Audubon's) Warbler - 20
MacGillivary's Warbler - 2
Western Tanager - 1000+, many flocks of 20-50 birds gorging on huckleberries
Evening Grosbeak - ~200

Cheers,

Tyler


Tyler L. Hicks


Ph.D. Student
Washington State University Vancouver

E-mail: tyler_hicks at wsu.edu
Web Page: http://thingswithwings.org

"Back off man, I'm a scientist." Bill Murray, Ghostbusters.