My wife, Janka, and I had just headed out of Sunrise on our way to the Mt.
Freemont Lookout when we ran into Marcus Roening and his wife, Heather.
They were heading up to 2nd Burroughs, but decided to lead us up to the
lookout, especially after we ran into Ryan Shaw who reported ptarmigan up
there.

Just after we got onto the Sourdough Ridge trail, there was a COOPER'S HAWK
harassing an AMERICAN KESTREL above the ridge. They gave a great show. We
also had a good flock of the usual species like MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE,
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, CHIPPING SPARROW, and
DARK-EYED JUNCO, as we as flyby CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS and PINE SISKINS.

About a 1/4 mile before Frozen Lake, Heather spotted a NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL
atop a fir just below the trail. Over the next couple of minutes we watched
it move from perch to perch, crossing the trail, and heading up towards the
ridge.

At the first viewpoint down to Frozen Lake, I quickly spotted a BAIRD'S
SANDPIPER on the near shore.

We got all the way up to Mt. Freemont Lookout without spotting any
ptarmigan, (though we did have a calling TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE), so we
stopped and ate lunch. Janka and I saw a couple of HORNED LARKS just north
of the lookout. Then Marcus came back to get us, as he and Heather had
found ptarmigan on the rocky knob south-southeast of the tower. Sure
enough, we eventually saw at least 5 WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN. There were
also at least 40 MOUNTAIN GOATS down the ridge to the east, and a PICA near
the tower.

Still feeling game, we then headed back down to Frozen Lake, then up 1st
Burroughs. Part way up, we found a family of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS, and
watched a female feed a juvenile. There were also some AMERICAN PIPITS
along the trail. Atop 1st Burroughs, there was another bird that we were
sure was either a Horned Lark or a pipit, but which turned out to be a
juvenile BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD - at 7200 feet. We then proceeded to 2nd
Burroughs, but had nothing more exciting than COMMON RAVEN, chipmonks, and
golden-mantled ground-squirrels.

Janka and I ran into some botanist friends, so we split from Marcus and
Heather at 1st Burroughs, and headed back botanizing down the longer route
back to Sunrise. Not many birds on that trail, with the only thing new
being a probable RED-TAILED HAWK.

The weather and the company were both wonderful. It was a great day.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== http://www.marymoor.org/BirdBlog.htm
== birdmarymoor at frontier.com