Tweets -

I spent the day up in the Naches Pass area, setting up my scope on Windy Gap [right on the crest between King & Kittitas Counties], watching for any migrating raptors -- between 8:30 and 5:00, the weather was beautiful and the raptors were pretty regularly cruising by. In the end, 9 species of raptor and a few other nice King Co. birds

Turkey Vulture - 4 - seemed like a low total
Northern Harrier - 3-4 - 1 adult male, 2 female/imm.
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 6-8
Cooper's Hawk - 12-15? Hard to be sure whether some were circling back, but I had several every hour - most numerous raptor of the day.
SWAINSON'S HAWK - one nice dark adult cruised by around 11:00 -
Red-tailed Hawk - maybe 6? 3 stayed in the area all day, making counting new birds a bit tough
American Kestrel -2
Merlin - 4-6 - great looks at several cruising by and hanging out
Peregrine Falcon - 2-3

Also around in the non-raptor category:

Clark's Nutcracker - one flew in to investigate, then moved on.
Cassin's Finch - many around all day
Mountain Bluebirds - 6 flew by in the afternoon
American Pipits - half dozen or so flying by
Band-tailed Pigeons - dozens [literally] flying by all day - most I've seen up there in one day [100+]
Vaux's Swifts - numbers decreased from a month ago, but still 10-20 around
American Robins - groups of 10 or so flying by all day -- seemed like robins on the move.
Only warblers for the day were Yellow-rumped Warblers [many] and Orange-crowned Warblers [2].

Not a bad day, and I bet more days spent up there would turn up things like a Broad-wniged one of these days

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA