Today Ken and I headed to Mt. Rainier. On the way we stopped at Kreger Lake to see if the Sora and American Bittern I heard yesterday were still calling. It was yes on the AMBI and no on the Sora. On the way through Elbe we stopped to add American dipper to Ken’s Pierce County year list.

Then we headed to Mt. Rainier and Paradise. At Longmire on the way up I heard what I thought was a Townsend’s warbler, but it came down close and at first glance we thought we had a Hermit warbler. On close study though it had black streaks on the flanks making it a Townsend’s – Hermit warbler hybrid. I battled my new camera to get a photo when it was right in front of us, but managed one good enough for ID higher in a tree.

At Paradise birding was really slow, and we didn’t get what I though were gimme FOY Gray Jay and Mountain chickadee. On the way down we made several stops, and at one a Sooty grouse was booming. At the bottom we took time to walk around the wetlands at Longmire, and while we were looking at Turkey vultures soaring, hoping one would be a Golden eagle, Ken spotted three Black swifts high up and we got nice long looks at these.
Here are couple of my other favorite photos.