Subject: [Tweeters] Summer Solstice and Mt. Rainier Ptarmigan (George Gerdts)
Date: Jun 21 15:26:13 2012
From: geopandion at aol.com - geopandion at aol.com


Tweeters,


I went to Mount Rainier yesterday evening to celebrate the Summer Solstice (4:09 PM in Seattle) and to take my annual Summer Solstice hike to look for White-tailed Ptarmigan. I have had good luck at this time of the year with males spontaneously calling and actually flying about! I arrived at Paradise about 10:30 PM with the northwest still aglow from the setting sun. What a marvelous time of year. Sunrise at 5:11 and sunset at 9:11, 16 hours of sunlight! The only downside is that we are headed "downhill" to the Winter Solstice 6 months hence with the sunrise at 7:55 and the sunset at 4:20, for a mere 8 hrs and 25 minutes of sunlight, if it's clear (unlikely...). I digress.


One can sleep in a vehicle at the "Overnight/Trail Parking Area" just below the Visitors' Center at Paradise. I did exactly that. The bathrooms are open all night.


SOOTY GROUSE displaying practically next to my car at 05:00. One male close by and a female along the road. Other males could be heard nearby. Here the Sooty Grouse often display on the ground, not in trees as they are wont to do in other areas.


I was off hiking by 06:00. It is still Winter at Paradise. Lots of snow, the trail to Myrtle Falls is still under 4 or 5 feet of snow. Snowshoes would be advised. Though I carried mine on the hike up to the Golden Gardens Basin, I didn't actually need them since the snow was soft but firm enough NOT to sink through. It's a stiff hike with a gain of about 1000 feet to the basin, but as soon as I arrived, a male WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN was calling. It took some looking to finally locate him, as he called and then flew to a new outcrop and called again. At one point, he flew directly over my position, not more than 5 feet over my head!!


One GRAY-CROWNED ROSY-FINCH flew over calling, and there were scattered AMERICAN PIPITS searching the snow for Snow Worms.


In the parking lot, GRAY JAYS and CLARK NUTCRACKERS were looking for handouts. VARIED THUSHES were calling from the Sub-alpine Firs, and a few FOX SPARROWS were giving their "chuck" call notes. I had a GRAY FOX on the road on my drive in the night before.


It was a very fun way to start summer by "playing" in the snow!!


George Gerdts
Bainbridge Island
206-842-8138
geopandion at gmail.com