Hey Tweets!

JC Vicente and I finished up our weekend in Mason County with a much slower morning in the Lake Cushman area.

The road to the Mount Ellinor trailhead and the hike itself (we only did the first mile and a half or two of the trail and back) were very birdy. Outside of a Ruffed Grouse (or a Golden Eagle, in JC's opinion), we found all the birds we could have hoped for!

On the trail: Sooty Grouse, Turkey Vulture, Band-Tailed Pigeon, Vaux's Swift, Rufous Hummingbird, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Olive-sided, Hammond's and Pacific-slope Flycatchers, Gray and Steller's Jay, Black and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Pacific Wren, Hermit and Varied Thrushes, American Robin, Orange-crowned, Townsend's, Black-throated Gray, Wilson's and Townsend's x Hermit Warblers, Dark-eyed Juncos, Red Crossbill, Pine Siskin and Evening Grosbeak.

Lower down we scoured through a mixed flock of Hermit, Townsend's and Hybrids, finally finding a pure-looking Hermit! Further down on the road, we added Warbling and Cassin's Vireo and Western Tanager. We birded other areas lightly without anything too unusual to report.

I think I've looked over the year list carefully now and the Mason County year is at 152! I may be a couple days away from having the blog updated. We shall see!

Happy Birding!

Tim Brennan
Renton