Tweeters,

My wife and I took advantage of the nice holiday weekend and hiked up at
Sunrise today. Birds were sparse initially, but as we approached the
Fremont overlook we ran into a nice group of 50 or so GRAY-CROWNED ROSY
FINCHES. I struggled at first to get pictures from 100 feet or so, but the
birds seemed to like us and kept getting closer until they were hopping
around by our feet. I was smiling ear to ear.



No luck with Ptarmigans today. But we found a few Mountain Goats near the
overlook. On the way down, we kept hearing rumors of bear sitings, so we
followed the rumors to Sunrise camp where we got a much closer than
necessary look at a young cinnamon-phase black bear. As he was walking up
the trail toward us (and a group of a dozen or so hikers), I had to keep
backing up to keep him from getting too close for my 400mm lens. It was
quite unforgettable.



Other nice birds were CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES, PINE
SISKINS, and YELLOW-RUMP WARBLERS. But mammals stole the show. Along with
the goats and bear there were chipmunks, Pika, ground-squirrels, Douglas
squirrels, a vole, and a nice look at a Short-tailed Weasel. And the
flowers were great too. Wonderful day on the mountain.



Pictures here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/102009338713990315115/PicturesForSharing#
<https://picasaweb.google.com/102009338713990315115/PicturesForSharing>



Randy Bjorklund

Federal Way, WA