Hello Tweets,
I've been trying to get up to Green Mountain, northeast of Darrington, for
over a month now but life has kept getting in the way. I finally made it up
there today and was not disappointed.

I had a very damp slog to the top, but I did pick up one of the Dusky
Flycatchers that have been heard or seen up there this summer. Thanks to
Isaiah Nugent for the coordinates. Other good birds were at least two
singing Gambel's White-Crowned Sparrows (along with similar numbers of
Puget Sound subspecies for comparison) and a bunch of Lazuli Buntings. I
was happily surprised to hear a House Wren about halfway up the mountain.

The weather had more or less dried by the time I reached the lookout. At
the top I heard what I determined to be a White-Tailed Ptarmigan, but while
I was trying to get a visual on the bird a flock of Gray-Crowned Rosy
Finches flew by and stole my attention. I watched the flock land on the
mountainside below and was able to re-find them and get close enough for
some amazing photos. Almost all the birds in the flock were juveniles.

I returned to the lookout and tried in vain to locate the Ptarmigan without
success. As I began to head down the trail an unfamiliar woodpecker called
within a few feet of me. It flew to the next group of trees and showed a
plain black back and white outer tail feathers. BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER!
After some frustration I was able to coax the bird into view for some
better looks and documentation photos. I'm not sure how many Snohomish
county records there are for BBWO, but I'd be curious if anyone knows where
and when the prior records were.

Nothing else of interest on my hike down but I did get some good looks at
some mother Sooty Grouse with very cute babies.

eBird checklist with photos here:
https://ebird.org/pnw/view/checklist/S58214983

Josh Adams
Cathcart, WA
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