Hello all,
I spent the weekend with my in-laws and wife in Leavenworth (Chelan
County). The purpose of the trip was not birding related, but with the
June-like weather we spent a great deal of time enjoying the outdoors.

We spent most of our day hiking to the top of Icicle Ridge, which is
the mountain that overlooks town. I had read Tim Brennen's report from
earlier this week since his White-Headed Woodpecker siting was very
close to this trail and it would be a lifer for me. I was also on the
lookout for Pygmy Nuthatch, which would be a lifer, and White-Breasted
Nuthatch which would be a new state bird for me.

We started the hike around 9:30am and I'm not sure if it was the time
or the elevation but the very bottom of the hike was extremely birdy,
but thinned out as we got higher only to improve again at the top. I
know someone with more time who was better at birding by ear could've
come up with at least a few species I wasn't able to ID by ear or
didn't have the time to seek out visually. The area is a mostly
Lodgepole Pine and was burned through in the Rat Creek Complex in 1994
which leaves a nice mixture of new growth, scarred Lodgepole's that
survived, snags, and open area. The trailhead is only a couple miles
from downtown Leavenworth and Highway 2 and according ,to the signage
I saw posted, doesn't even require a parking pass. I'd highly
recommend at least checking out the lower part of the trail if you're
in the area. The trail is a series of switchbacks up a steep
mountainside, so it would be difficult for anyone with limited
mobility, but the trail is in good shape and lacking a lot of the root
structures that make a lot of hikes I do in the western side of the
mountains difficult. It had the added bonus of being snow-free, which
is rare this time of year.

We managed to get the White-Headed Woodpecker early and often. We saw
at least 3 of them at one time and I suspect possibly more with many
good looks for the entire group. Also encountered early were tons of
Yellow-Rumped Warblers, many Dark-Eyed Juncos, Spotted Towhee's,
Red-Breasted Nuthatches, and what I was later able to confirm through
photos were Cassin's Finch (another lifer).

As mentioned before, birding quieted down quite a bit as we got
higher. Most numerically significant and obvious were the Turkey
Vultures that were taking advantage of the strong thermals to gain
altitude at a rate I'd never seen before. Eventually I noticed a deep
pattern of sound emanating from above the trail that I'd never heard
before. I was mystified until my mother in-law pointed out that it
might be an owl. That seemed like a likely conclusion and I spent
about twenty minutes searching in vain for the "owl" I assumed was
roosting nearby. Ever since I fulfilled a life-long dream by seeing a
Snowy Owl in November, I've been on a quest to try to see as many owls
this year as possible, but I've been stuck at a mere three confirmed
species (Snowy, Short-Eared, and Barn) after getting only a brief
glimpse of an unidentified owl flying low over the hills of SE Kansas
and dipping on both Great-Gray and Northern Hawk owls in Edmonton last
month. Alas, my searching was in vain and I dejectedly moved up the
trail. Someone who encountered my mother in-law later and claimed to
know birds well claimed it was a Ptarmigan, but all my research leads
me to believe it was actually a Sooty Grouse (split in 2006 from Blue
Grouse into two separate species, Dusky and Sooty Grouse). The end of
the audio file at this link has a good example of what I heard:
http://www.xeno-canto.org/21637

At the top of ridge the birding began to pick-up again. I encountered
several Townsend's Solitaire, two Western Bluebirds, and more
Yellow-Rumped Warblers were all found at the top of trees hawking
insects. Additionally there were Violet-Green Swallows, Turkey
Vultures and Spotted Towhee's to be found.

Total checklist for the hike is here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10521851

Sunday we attempted to hike the Icicle Creek Gorge loop, but were
surprised to find snow blocking the road at least three miles from the
trail head. We walked around a bit and encountered even more
Yellow-Rumps, Juncos, and Chestnut Backed Chickadees.

The weekend ended very successfully as well. When we picked up our dog
from my parents house we got a new yard bird for them, American
Goldfinch. This evening, right after sunset I added two yard birds of
my own. I had several Golden-Crowned Kinglets working through our
Single-Seeded Hawthorne tree and as I was trying to ID them a Coopers
Hawk glided at head-height into our neighbors yard.

Josh Adams
Lynnwood, WA