All,
I spent 5 hours hiking in the Chinook Pass area today, which is located on the eastern edge of Mt. Rainier NP along the boundary of Yakima and Pierce counties.? I only recorded 9 species of birds, but several were of interest and were seen at Dewey Lake in Yakima County.? These included 32 Greater White-fronted Geese, 2 Pine Grosbeaks, and a pair of distant grebes that were either Horneds or Westerns.? The behavior of the geese was especially interesting.? They were 25-75 yds from the water and grazing in several very small upland meadows mixed in among stands of forest.? I've never seen any geese in Washington in predominately forested habitat like that.? Very odd for sure!
Gary WilesOlympia, WAwilesharkey at yahoo.com?