Yesterday was another nice day to be birding the Upper Skagit Valley.
Here are the highlights:

Ruffed Grouse - heard one drumming at the Agg Ponds

Sooty Grouse - hooting on Thunder Knob

Sharp-shinned Hawk - at least two adults and two more accipiters that
probably were SSHA as well

YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER - Steve and Gail Aslanian found this juv
female on Sunday. It's at a really nice little beaver pond 2.3 miles
south of the main intersection in Darrington. There are several
alders on the far side of the pond (plus one in the pond) that it
spent all its time at while I was watching it. Views were really nice
with a scope and still adequate with binoculars. I also had four
Red-breasted Sapsuckers in view at once, all of which appeared to be
pure birds. For eBird users there is a hotspot called "Darrington --
Clear Creek wetland" for this specific location.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13602471

Northern Flicker - including two Red-shafted x Yellow-shafted intergrades

Gray Jay - two at the YBSA spot

Northern Rough-winged Swallow - recent arrivals in a few spots

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 26, moving through in decent numbers now

Mountain Bluebird - 19, all but two were females

American Pipit - a surprise bird a couple weeks earlier than they
usually start moving through up there

Audubon's Warblers, Savannah Sparrows and 'pugetensis' White-crowned
Sparrows have arrived

Cassin's Finch - 1 singing on Thunder Knob

Red Crossbill - Well over a hundred including two groups of several
dozen, most were Type 3's though there was at least one Type 4 on
Thunder Knob where they were all feeding on the pine cones

WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL - A pair at the YBSA spot feeding in the
cone-laden spruce at the south end of the beaver pond. It was hard to
decide whether to be watching these or the sapsucker but fortunately
they stayed for about twenty minutes.


Good birding,
Ryan Merrill
Kirkland, WA