Hi Tweeters,

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I spent most of Saturday hiking and birding in Manning Provincial Park in British Columbia, which is located?adjacent to?the Washington border in the northern Cascades.? My son, soon to be a fledgling, had to attend a 2 day orientation at WWU in Bellingham, and, as I was going to drop him off, I? debated where to go birding?in the meantime.? It was about that time that I read Dennis Paulson's post?mentioning that he had seen Boreal Chickadees at Manning Park.? I've only seen this species once, and then only briefly, and, as I had never been to Manning Park before, it seemed like the perfect place to go.

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It took me less than 3 hours to get there from Bellingham (even counting the time that I spent convincing the Canadian border authorities that I did not plan to do anything more nefarious in their country than look for birds.? I even had to list some of the species that I hoped to find).? Despite the impact of the Mountain Pine Beetle on large stands of lodgepole pine, the park is worth the visit for the scenic beauty alone.

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Hiking in the Strawberry Flats portion of the Three Falls Trail, I fairly quickly encountered both BOREAL & MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES.? As Dennis mentioned, the Boreal Chickadees?are not always very cooperative when it comes to seeing them.? I eventually did manage to get some nice views, but it took awhile.? Both species of chickadees sound raspy to me when they do their chickadee call, and it was fun comparing them.? Later, in the Lightening Lake area, I also encountered young BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES with their scratchy calls, reminding me of the other 2 species.? I encountered more Boreal Chickadees along the lower portion of the Skyline Trail.

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Being mid-August, many of the species were fairly quiet.? I saw a few flycatchers through the branches, but none of them vocalized.? Perhaps the most vocal species was RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, which seemed to be everywhere.? While trying to pish in those rotten chickadees, a male and female PINE GROSBEAK landed on a branch just a few feet above me to check out the commotion.? Prior to this, I've only seen this species a couple of times in small winter flocks.? Nice seeing them so close.? Other species seen in the Strawberry Flats section include 1 YELLOW WARBLER, 1 NASHVILLE WARBLER (the bird checklist for for this trail indicates that they are not found in this section of the park, but it was definitely a Nashville), and PACIFIC WREN.? When I reached the ski lift, I heard a woodpecker tapping, so I walked up the cleared area under the cables for about 20 yards when I spotted a male A. THREE-TOED WOODPECKER drumming away on a snag by the edge of the clearing.? It was soon joined by a female and I watched them creep up the tree for a few minutes until they flew off into the woods.

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Birding was much less productive beyond the first of the 3 falls (Shadow Falls), but it is worth hiking to the end of the trail just to eat lunch?while overlooking?Derek Falls.??Back in the Strawberry Flats portion, I had stopped to listen to another small group of Boreal Chickadees when I heard a cheeping sound about 10 feet farther up the trail.? Soon, a SPRUCE GROUSE chick (a little less than half adult size) popped out of the vegetation and onto the trail.? It was followed by another, and then a third and a fourth.? Then the hen came out accompanied by an adult male.? He was trying to impress her by fanning out his tail feathers so that the white tips of the shorter ones really stood out.? Unlike what is shown in Sibley and a couple of my other field guides, the lateral coverts were separated and did not form a continuous fan.? He really was a beautiful bird.? I was surprised to see a male displaying for a female this late in the summer.? They completely ignored me and often came to within a few feet.? This reminded me of a similar experience?I had 2 years ago with White-tailed Ptarmigan on Mt. Rainier when a hen and her chicks came so close that one of them actually walked over my shoe.? The female grouse made incessant low calls to the chicks which constantly responded in kind, just in a higher pitch.? The male pulled off and swallowed the leaves of a small, weedy plant that I could not ID.? The female was plucking away at some berries.? I know that I always say this, but this really was one of the coolest birding experiences that I've had.? I've only seen this species once before, and it was in poor lighting and for less than a minute.

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Other than a CLARK'S NUTCRACKER at the resort begging for food, I did not see any other boreal or high altitude species.? I did not see a single species of raptor within the park, and very few sparrows.

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Good birding,

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Lonnie Somer

Olympia

wheelermombi at comcast.net