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Hi Tweeters

My name is Dorian Anderson, and I am currently involved in a HUGE birding
project for 2014. In short, I am doing a nationwide big year using only a
bicycle (and a kayak when I reach Monterey, CA). Since January 1 when I
left Boston, I have biked 10,400 miles and found/ticked 514 bird species. I
have also raised ~$25,000 that will be used for bird conservation.

I am keeping a very thorough blog of the adventure at
http://bikingforbirds.blogspot.com

I am currently in La Grande, Oregon. I will be heading through Northeastern
Oregon along the I-84 corridor towards Yakima, WA. I am hoping to do a loop
through the Okanogan NF and the North Cascades to look for Boreal Chickadee
and Spruce grouse and, if I am incredible lucky, White-winged crossbill. I
was hoping to ride Route 20 from Mazama west through the mountains, but I
hear that fires might complicate this and other aspects of my potential
time in the North Cascades. Any info on the fire front would be
particularly helpful.

Should I get shut out of the Cascades, I might try for Spruce grouse west
of Yakima to save some miles or riding.

Regardless of what happens with the North Cascades, I will certainly bird
Mount Rainier for Gray-crowned rosy-finch and Sooty grouse. These two birds
are absolute "must finds" for me to be close to my goal of 600 species for
the year. After Rainier, I will cut out the WA coast, head south to
Haystack Rock for Tufted puffin, cut back inland around Portland, and then
cut back to the coast near Coos Bay. This route is still very rough and
will almost certainly be significantly modified as I progress.

I will also spend time looking for Sagebrush sparrow around Yakima in the
next few days.

Otherwise, I think I should be able to find many other birds that will be
new for the year (cormorants, west coast shorebirds, alcids, woodpeckers,
etc) during the next month. Mountain quail could be a sticky bird, so I'll
need to pin that down as well. Here is a complete list of birds I want to
find in the next month between Washington and Oregon. Should I miss any of
these, most them can also be found on my route south through California.

Greater-white fronted goose (I?m on the early side for this)

Pacific loon

Brandt?s cormorant

Pelagic cormorant

Sooty shearwater

Black oystercatcher

Wandering tattler

Black turnstone

Surfbird

Sooty grouse (must get this)

Spruce grouse (very tough)

Mountain quail (need spot for this)

Mew gull

Glaucous-winged gull

Heermann?s gull

Western gull

Pigeon guillemot

Marbled murrelet

Rhinocerous auklet

Common murre

Tufted puffin (Haystack rock)

Vaux?s swift

Red-breasted sapsucker

White-headed woodpecker

Varied thrush

Pacific wren

Boreal chickadee (very tough)

Wrentit

Chestnut-backed chickadee

Pacific-slope flycatcher

Cassin?s vireo

Hermit warbler

Sagebrush sparrow

Gray-crowned rosy-finch

Purple finch

White-winged crossbill

OK, that's it for the moment. Thanks for the time!

--
Jim Danzenbaker
Battle Ground, WA
360-702-9395
jdanzenbaker at gmail.com
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