Tweets,

Summer songbirds are present but elusive in the forests and thickets of the Eastside of the Cascades. Jeanelle Richardson and I scouted a field trip to Cle Elum's Northern Pacific Ponds, Blewett Pass's Discovery Trail and the Leavenworth Fish Hatchery on Saturday, and saw and heard many of the forest dwellers one would expect to find in these locations during mid-June including Warbling and Cassin's Vireos, Gray and Stellar's Jays, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Veerys, Swainson's and Hermit Thrushes, Cedar Waxwings, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Gray, Townsend's and Wilson's Warblers, Western Tanagers, Chipping Sparrows, Black-headed and Evening Grosbeaks, Purple and Cassin's Finches and American Goldfinches.

Curiously, we didn't see the woodpeckers we had targeted for the day, though we did find a nearly fledged Osprey in a nest above the Northern Pacific Ponds and a nesting Red-breasted Nuthatch and nesting Black-capped Chickadee near the hatchery. Total species for the day: 50. One last note: wildflowers are rampant on the top of Blewett Pass and the on Fish Hatchery's grounds.


Jim Owens

Mercer Island