Yesterday (9.13.17) from 8AM till 4:30 PM I hiked the Skyline and Golden Gate Trails from Paradise. The early morning was very chilly, but it soon warmed up and turned out to be a beautiful day. Birds and mammals were plenty. All birds listed below were seen at Mount Rainier except for the Cooper's Hawk.


Birds:
Northern Goshawk - an immature soared overhead as I lunched at Panorama Point
Prairie Falcon - flew in to briefly join the larger, soaring gos; 1 of 4 sightings of 2 or more birds
Red-tailed Hawk - immature seen several times in the area
Northern Harrier - passing through at high altitude
Sharp-shinned Hawk - flew into a tree along the trail
Cooper's Hawk - this bird I saw in Puyallup on the way home; it made for a 3 accipiter day in Pierce Co.
White-tailed Ptarmigan - 3 seen; 2 photographed; the birds were east of Panorama Point by a snow field as the Skyline Trail begins to descend.
Northern Flicker
American Pipit - 2 flocks of 10-12 flew over
American Robin - 2

Gray Jay - 3 at the parking lot
Steller's Jay - several
Clark's Nutcracker - 1 at the parking lot & a flock of 7 fly over the trail
Common Raven - 12 or more
Slate-colored Fox Sparrow - 1
Golden-crowned Sparrow - several seen
Dark-eyed Junco - several


3 ptarmigan images: http://www.pbase.com/marvbreece/new_images
2 ptarmigan videos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/138163614 at N02/


Mammals:
Black-tailed Deer - 1
Cascade Red Fox - 3
Hoary Marmot - 25-30
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel - several
Yellow Pine Chipmunk




It was a good day.





Marv Breece
Tukwila, WA
marvbreece at q.com

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