Greetings All,

Yesterday morning Jim Danzenbaker, Ann Nightingale, Shawneen Finnegan and I found at least one (likely two) Yellow-breasted Chats along Yale Bridge Rd. The site was at m.p. 31 along Yale Bridge Rd. just south of where it intersects with Lewis River Rd. Exact GPS coordinates are: N 45.99448 W -122.36488

Both the large clearing on the east side of the road and the stand of trees west of the road were very birdy. The chats were out in the clearing. We think there were at least two birds here as we were hearing widely separated vocalizations.

We were hoping to get up the back side of St. Helens on FR25, but the road was gated off fairly low due to snow still on the road 15 miles up, so we decided to continue on towards Mt. Adams and to Trout Lake. It was a magnificent day to be in the Cascades. I? will be creating a full field report of our activities (with photos) later today and I will post that when completed. I'm currently working inputting my eBird checklists (many) for day.

Don't know if anyone would chase the chats, but I know they are quite scarce in w. WA.

Dave Irons
Portland, OR

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