Mirror Lake

[bcurrie100 at comcast dot net]

Well, with everyone getting in on the Three-toed Woodpecker, I didn't want to be left out.  So today I headed up there.  I arrived at about 10:30 AM.  I headed down the Highline Trail (it is marked "Highline trail" with several destinations below it).  The first bird I saw was a what? A Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  Not to fear, for the second bird was A THREE-TOED WOODPECKER  (TT Woodpecker from here on out).  A female with a juvenile in tow.  I don't know how many I saw today, I will let you be the judge of that, but literally I could not go 50-75 yards without seeing one.    Some of you may want to kill me when you hear that, but I guess I was just in the right place at the right time.  The first one was about 75 yards in. I went about 40 more yards to see yet another one.  I could still hear momma and juvenile in back of me so I knew this was not the same one (lighting and positioning were poor so I could not see if there was any yellow on forehead). Shortly thereafter a Clark's Nutcracker was nice enough to fly overhead.  About another 50 yards and yet another TT Woodpecker.  At about this point the skies darkened and it began to rain.  No fear, that did not last long because then it hailed for about 12 minutes.  Luckily I just happened to be under quite a few trees that protected me for the most part.  It rained/hailed for 20 minutes.  During this time a small flock of Dark-eyed Juncos, Gray-headed subspecies, was nice enough to entertain me.  Unfortunately I lost sight of them as I saw a flash of light IMMEDIATELY followed by a very loud thundering.  You have heard of the Ant Dance by Nicky Davis?  Let me introduce you to the "Lightening/Thunder Drop so fast you may have died dance."  I thought it wise to put some distance between me and my metal tripod.  Evidently the Juncos thought the same thing because they disappeared after that.  It finally stopped hailing, the juncos came back, so I thought it safe to go.  I went about another 30 yards and saw yet another TT Woodpecker.  No juvenile in tow so this!
  may hav

e been the last one I saw.  I then made it up to the pond previously described by Glenn Barlow.  I am fairly sure I found the cavity Glenn had described (his markers were right on), but there was no activity.  I stayed in the area for about an hour and there was no activity the whole time in that cavity.  However, around the pond there was yet another TT Woodpecker.  I "chased" him around the pond and up the hill.  He gave me several really good looks.  Two Clark's Nutcrackers were in the area as well.  The DE Junco, Gray-headed Race, was also flitting about (several actually).  It was time to head back and not long had I started down the trail when I saw a TT Woodpecker again.  Pretty sure this was the original third one I saw, same area.  I continued on for about another 50 yards and saw another TT Woodpecker.  No juvenile in tow so not sure if I had seen this one before.  This one was a female.  I continued back towards the parking lot about another 75 yards and thought I should venture up the hill a little.  I went up about 25 yards and a male Pine Grosbeak surprised me (he will tell you I surprised him, don't believe it).  There were three female Pine Grosbeaks in his immediate area.  Kaufmann describes them as they can "be tame."  I would say so. They were quite tolerant of my presence as long as I stayed about 20 feet away.  They were also quiet the whole time so I am lucky I found them.  I also saw a Yellow-rumped Warbler there.  Back down the trail.  I saw another Clark's Nutcracker with some type of rodent.  The ears were definitely that of a rodent, mouse type, but the rest was a bit destroyed beyond recognition.  Hadn't seen a TT Woodpecker for about 100 yards now so I figured I may not see any more.  Then I heard a drumming, but this was not the same drumming.  I looked up and there was the unexpected male Williamson's Sapsucker just as pretty as can be.  I continued on about 15 yards and heard some more drumming.  My first thought was it was the sapsucker again because he had flown off that!
  way.  B

ut again, the drumming was different.  I headed up the hill about 30 yards and a female TT Woodpecker was busy flaking away the bark.  She was the nicest of all as she let me get within about 4-5 yards of her for about 10 minutes.  The clouds darkened once again and it began to rain.  The TT Woodpecker flew off and I took the hint to go back to the car this time.  The parking lot was only about 75 yards from this spot.  A word of caution to everyone, as I was in the parking lot a fairly strong gust of wind came about and knocked over a 40 foot dead tree.  This was off any trails but still be careful.  It is quite something to hear a tree that size fall.

I also saw a Red-shafted Flicker when I was almost to the pond.  So, not a lot of species, but a lot of sightings of TT Woodpeckers [probable two females (possibly three), one juvenile and one male], Clark's Nutcrackers (at least four), and four Pine Grosbeaks.  I will take that any time.

Brian
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