Subject: [Tweeters] WOS trip Aug 15 Skagit
Date: Aug 16 08:38:30 2011
From: Gary Bletsch - garybletsch at yahoo.com
Dear Tweeters,
Despite mist and showers in the morning, seven intrepid WOS members, plus your trepid correspondent, had a good birding trip to the mountains in Skagit County yesterday (8-15-2011).
Highlights included a GOLDEN EAGLE and a SOLITARY SANDPIPER. We also saw six mountain goats, two pikas, two deer, a chipmunk, lots of hoary marmots, a garter snake, a frog with red legs, and a few confused salmonids trying to get into the fish hatchery ahead of the crowd. Wildflowers were still putting on a nice show above Cascade Pass. Interesting caterpillars provided occasional diversions. Biting insects were surprisingly few.
The original plan was to hike to Cutthroat Pass, but since a bridge is washed out on that trail, necessitating a ford of Porcupine Creek, we changed plans. We went up Cascade Pass Trail and Sahale Arm instead.
Unfortunately, intermittent rain worsened as we approached Sahale Arm, and numerous snow patches made the going slow on the first part of the trail up Sahale Arm, so most of the party retreated before entering ptarmigan country. Rain continued to interfere with the search for the ptarmigan and rosy finches, so the Sahale Arm party retreated after a cursory search for those species.
Of course, once everyone met up in the trailhead parking lot, the sun came out, and the weather stayed clear for the rest of the day, as it remains this morning!
On the way back west, we visited Marblemount Fish Hatchery and Barnaby Slough. The latter place has changed markedly. Now apparently in a state of total abandon, Barnaby Slough seems to be reverting to nature; trails and even roads are disappearing in a growth of shrubs and small trees. However, we were able to pick our way past stinging nettles along the traditional route out to the end of the ponds. Without some weedwhacking or occasional vehicular traffic on the hatchery's roads, this site will probably become a thicket in a few years.
Here are the birds we found, roughly 55 species:
Wood Duck--one glimpsed at Barnaby Slough
Hooded Merganser, one at Barnaby Slough
Turkey Vulture--several at Marblemount Hatchery
Osprey--one at Marblemount Hatchery
unknown small raptor (sharpie or Merlin) carrying prey through fog by lower part of trail to Cascade pass
Golden Eagle, one adult at Cascade Pass, probably male (looked smallish)
Sooty Grouse, a few heard at Sahale Arm, calling from isolated thickets of treeline conifers, surrounded by steep and wet heather
Ruffed Grouse, hen and one juvenile at Barnaby Slough
Solitary Sandpiper, one with Spotted Sandpipers at the hatchery
Spotted Sandpiper, six or more at the hatchery; no spotted adults seen
California Gull, two adults flying west, right over Cascade Pass
Barn Owl, one near Hamilton in the morning
Common Nighthawk, one heard at Barnaby Slough, 4 seen just west of there
Black Swift, eight or more at Sahale Arm, two just west of Barnaby Slough
Vaux's Swift, one glimpsed at Barnaby
Rufous Hummingbird, several at Cascade Pass Trailhead and Sahale Arm
Belted Kingfisher, several at the hatchery
Hairy Woodpecker, one smallish female at Barnaby
Northern Flicker, one heard along Cascade Pass Trail
Western Wood Pewee, one heard singing at Barnaby
Northern Rough-winged Swallow, two at hatchery
Barn Swallow, several at the hatchery
American Pipit, six or so on Sahale Arm
Golden-crowned Kinglet, several along Cascade Pass Trail
Cedar Waxwing, three or more at Barnaby Slough
Townsend's Solitaire, one on Sahale Arm
Hermit Thrush, one along Cascade Pass Trail
American Robin, a few here and there at each site
Varied Thrush, a few along Cascade River Road and Cascade Pass Trail
Black-capped Chickadee, a few at Barnaby
Chestnut-backed Chickadee, small flocks at most forested sites visited
Red-breasted Nuthatch, several on Cascade Pass Trail
Brown Creeper, one or two heard at Cascade Pass Trail and at Barnaby
Grey Jay, two or three making even weirder noises than usual, Cascade Pass Trail; I think one was imitating a Steller's Jay "three stooges" call
American Crow, small flock in Concrete on our way up
Eurasian Starling, ditto
Warbling Vireo, one at hatchery
Hutton's Vireo, one heard at Barnaby
vireo sp, one at Barnaby
Orange-crowned Warbler, one at the hatchery
Yellow-rumped Warbler, one each at Cascade Pass Trail and Barnaby
Black-throated Grey Warbler, one or two glimpsed at the hatchery and/or at Barnaby
Townsend's Warbler, two at Cascade Pass Trail
Yellow Warbler, one at the hatchery
Western Tanager, one or two at Cascade Pass Trail, plus a female still feeding a couple of fledglings at Barnaby
Spotted Towhee, one heard singing at Barnaby
Song Sparrow, one or two each at the hatchery and Barnaby
White-crowned Sparrow, one glimpsed at the hatchery
Oregon Junco, several family groups, including at least one fledgling, at Cascade Pass Trail and Sahale Arm
Black-headed Grosbeak, one heard at Barnaby
Red-winged Blackbird, three or four at Barnaby
Red Crossbills, several heard at Sahale Arm
Pine Siskin, two or three at Sahale Arm
Evening Grosbeak, close to ten along Cascade Pass Trail and Sahale Arm
--my aplogies if I have omitted any species.
Big Misses: Pacific Wren and Common Raven!
Yours truly,
Gary Bletsch
Gary Bletsch?Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA?garybletsch at yahoo.com?Mentre che li occhi per la fronda verde
ficcava ?o s? come far suole
chi dietro a li uccellin sua vita perde, lo pi? che padre mi dicea: ?Figliuole,
vienne oramai, ch? ?l tempo che n?? imposto
pi? utilmente compartir si vuole?.??