Greetings all,

I went birding with Annie Meyer and Ryan Merrill on Saturday to the Sunrise access of Mount Rainier National Park.

The weather was fantastic for our ~6 mile hike from the Sunrise parking lot to the Mount Fremont Lookout and Shadow Lake.
There is still a bit of snow on the trails in several places, but for the most part not a problem, though we did not attempt
the trail to Burroughs Mountain.

The highlights for the hike included a very cooperative pair of White-tailed Ptarmigan near the end of the Mount Fremont trail.
The male was quite vocal, calling several times allowing Merrill to get some nice recordings.

Other highlights included 4 Mountain Goats on the Fremont trail with 1 baby goat. The rest of our day list can be found below.

Photos of the ptarmigan can be found here:

www.flickr.com/photos/shyalbatross

Cheers and Good Birding,

Ryan Shaw
Tacoma, WA
rtshaw80 at hotmail.com

Species List
White-tailed Ptarmigan 3 adult pair near Fremont Lookout, great close views of vocal birds,
nice photos, heard another one calling from around the ridge
Sooty Grouse 3
Rufous Hummingbird 12
Gray Jay 2
Clark's Nutcracker 8
Common Raven 1
Mountain Chickadee 10
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
American Robin 3
American Pipit 8
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 5
Fox Sparrow (Slate-colored) 6
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 35
Western Tanager 1
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch 2
Pine Grosbeak 1
Cassin's Finch 8
Red Crossbill (type 3) 2
Pine Siskin 3
Evening Grosbeak 3