Subject: [Tweeters] Mt Adams burn birding
Date: Jul 8 08:28:39 2014
From: Jim Danzenbaker - jdanzenbaker at gmail.com


Tweeters,

To follow up on the report from Dave Irons and also from Matt Bartels, I
visited the burn area on the southeast skirt of Mt. Adams (accessed via FR
8040 from Rte 141 - Klickitat, Skamania, and Yakima Counties) on July 1-2
and also on July 5-6 (with Ann Nightingale). Sorry for the delayed report:

Sooty Grouse - one booming male perched about 3 feet down from the top of
an evergreen about a 1/3 of a mile up the South Climb trail on Mt. Adams.
Although initially I thought it would be difficult to locate, I was
surprised to see it after a 30 second search - I guess it's easy when there
are so few unburned trees!

American Three-toed Woodpecker - *18 (eighteen)* on July 1-2 and *9* on
July 5-6. One active nest about 75 yards along the Morrison Creek Trail at
the very end of FR 8040. Go to the last parking area and you'll see the
beginning of the trail. Almost assuredly the young have now fledged. On
July 1, I had four of this species in the lower part of the burn just
beyond the speed limit signs. On July 1, there was one calling from a nest
hole just below the first rest rooms in the burn area. We were not able to
locate this(these) on July 5th (see Matt's note on this pair). When I saw
the calling bird at the nest cavity on July 1-2, it appeared that it may
have been sick as it looked very weak and may have had an eye problem. On
July 5-6, we had several encounters with family groups that were feeding
recently fledged young. There was one recently fledged young in a tree
that stayed motionless for at least 30 minutes so they can be very
difficult to spot.

Black-backed Woodpecker - *10 (ten)* on July 1 at the lower burn area just
beyond the speed limit signs that are very close to the Skamania-Yakima
County line. Also, a family of four including two fledged young on July 5.
We watched one adult locate 8 grubs in about 20 minutes - these
woodpeckers are very good at what they do! Great to see them locate a grub
and immediately pass it off to the young with us standing only 20 feet away!

Williamson's Sapsucker - A pair above the speed limit signs on July 1 and
an active nest with screaming young in the same area on July 5 and an
additional pair just above the Morrison Creek campground.

Pileated Woodpecker- one (possibly two) at the Morrison Creek campground

Hairy Woodpecker - scattered throughout

Downy Woodpecker - two in the burn area

Red-breasted Sapsucker - a pair at a nest cavity in the burn area on July 2
and also July 6. Location is in the only patch of unburned aspen along the
road through the burn. This is also a location for one of the American
Three-toed Woodpecker families.

Pine Siskin - as Matt mentioned, flocks of these were very common which was
wonderful given the lack of siskins that we've all experienced on the west
side recently. I saw one pure flock of 30 siskins.

Red Crossbill - many flocks throughout. As far as I can figure, Type 2 or
Type 3 (but maybe type 4?). I have to learn my crossbill type flight calls
again.

Evening Grosbeak - quite common in the lower stretches of FR 8040.

Gray Jay - family groups including young seen on the upper Morrison Creek
trail on July 2 and above the speed limit signs in the Black-backed
Woodpecker area on July 1.

Clark's Nutcracker - a flock of 18 at dawn at the very end of the road and
along the South Climb trail.

Common Nighthawk - at least 4 in the evening above the top parking area. A
nice camp bird! Also one over the Morrison Creek campground below the burn.

Western Tanager - wow, there's a lot of them up there! I located a nest
with an incubating female about 15 feet off the ground in an evergreen
about a 1/3 mile up the South Climb Trail on July 2.

Hammond's Flycatchers - fairly common in the forested areas below the burn.

Mountain Bluebirds - common in the burn area including nests.

Hermit Thrush - common throughout - seemed to dominate the dawn chorus.

Western Bluebird - one pair in the Black-backed Woodpecker burn area.

Mountain Chickadee - located in the upper sections of the burn including
along the lower stretches of the South Climb Trail.

Cassin's Finch - fairly common in the burn area.

Veery - one calling at the Morrison Creek campground

Many other species seen/heard including Cassin's Vireo, loads of Rufous
Hummingbirds, Nashville and MacGillivray's Warblers, etc.

A note on an interesting song that Ann Nightingale and I heard on the
evening of July 5th about 1/2 a mile north of the Morrison Creek
campground. I had never heard the song before and I couldn't place it to
any known warbler song although I'm nearly convinced that it was a warbler.
Unfortunately, I can't describe it. When I pished, a Nashville Warbler
came flying right in. If this was the songster, this was a completely and
totally different song (not even close to a Nashville song) than I have
ever heard from a Nashville.

Keep your eyes and ears skyward!

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