Animals and Birds of Washington's Alpine Environments

I have been trying to photograph all of the wildlife I have seen in the Cascades for a while now.  Although my photo collection is far from complete, I do feel it is large enough for a blog post.  So here it is. wildlife of the Cascades Alpine areas.

Pika

The Pika is a small mammal in the lagomorphs family (rabbit and hare) found both below tree line and in the alpine regions.  It is rat sized and can often be seen and heard in scree and boulder fields.  Their call is best described as a loud squeak.  They are pretty hard to get close to so I don't really have many good photos of them.    Pika do not hibernate, they live under the snow all winter continuing to feed on the vegetation on the ground.  

Hoary Marmot

Marmots are common in alpine areas of Washington and I have spent many hours photographing them.  Their call is a loud whistle, which serves as communication and more importantly a warning to other marmots about predators.  

Cascade Fox
The Cascade fox is a common resident around Mt. Rainier as many of them are habituated to humans.

Deer Mouse
Any climber who has spent any time at a popular camp and did not clean up their food properly has paid for it with less sleep due to the constant nighttime movements of the deer mouse.

A deer mouse hiding the the bottom of my tent.

Bushy-tailed Woodrat
Any nighttime encounter with a deer mouse pales in comparison to the legendary bushy-tailed wood rat.  There may be no other animal quite as persistent and capable of ruining a night of sleep.  My encounters with this large rodent have always been memorable.  I once had a pair of socks stolen by one of these guys in the middle of the night.  We were in the Picket Range and I had not brought a second pair.  In another encounter I had some crawling all over my truck while I was trying to sleep in it while on a trip in Eastern Washington.  It was an evening of almost constant banging and loud scurrying.  These things certainly do not have much grace.
I dont have a photo of one of these alive, and I cant really bring myself to post a picture of a dead one.

You can find a photo here


Mountain Goat
One of the more lovable of our alpine dwelling friends.  It is rare that I do a trip to the Enchantments, Washington Pass or the Cache Col side of Cascade Pass without seeing some goats.

Black Bear
Yes they do spend time above tree line in the alpine areas of the Cascades.  No I don't have a good photo of one.

Grizzly Bear (Brown Bear)
It is now official that there are grizzly bears in the North Cascades.  The photo that confirmed them was shot on Sahale Arm near Cascade Pass.

Chipmunk
Found at most camps in the pacific Northwest at or below treeline.

Varied Thrush
Often heard, but rarely seen, the varied thrush is one of the most common birds that climbers will share the approach trail with.  They are about the size of and have similar shape as a robin (which is also a thrush).

Click here for a page at which you can hear its call.

Anna's Hummingbird

I am kind of lying here, because it is more common for climbers to see ruby-throated hummingbirds, but I don't have a picture of one.  Hummingbirds are very common in alpine areas of Washington.  

 American Crow

Crows are less common visitors to the alpine than ravens, but do occasionally make their way above tree line.  

Winter Wren

I am still working on getting a photo of a Winter Wren.  They do not tend to move above tree line, but are very common in sub-alpine forest.
This is another bird with a distinctive song that is often heard on approach hikes.  More information, a recording of the call, and a photo can be found here.

Hermit Thrush
The Hermit Thrush is another bird that is often heard but rarely seen.  Their call is one of the most beautiful and haunting of all the northwest birds.  A hike in the northwest would not be the same without the sound of this bird.  It is most often heard right at treeline in the mountain hemlock and sub-alpine fir.
Click here for a link to a page where you can hear its call.

I know this photo is terrible, but its a hermit thrush and they are hard to get close to.

Gray Jay

Known to many back country users as camp robbers.  Chances are if you have stopped for a snack on a popular trail you have had one of these birds land close to you.  

Pretty much the easiest bird to photograph.

Clark's Nutcraker
Similar in color to the grey jay and often mistaken for them.  They are a bigger bird and do not do as much scrounging for climber food as the jay does.  They are more common on the eastern crest of the cascade mountains around Colchuck Lake and Washington Pass.  They are also very loud squawking birds.

For more information and to hear their call click here.

Dark eyed Junco
I can't really believe I don't have a photo of one of these yet.  They are all over my front yard and they are super common visitors to the sub-alpine fir and mountain hemlock.
More info and photos can be found here.

Mountain Chickadee
The Mountain Chickadee is a close relative of the black-capped chickadee.  It is pretty common in the sub-alpine areas just like the Dark-eyed Junco.

Horned Lark
Horned Larks are often seen on glaciers in small groups feeding on insects in the snow.  This bird fits in the often seen but rarely close enough to identify.  Some day I will get a good photo of one, but until them I will stick with this one.

Ok, I have an updated photo from Eastern Washington.  I left the original bad one because it shows a bird feeding on the glacier.

American Pipit
The American Pipit is a less commonly seen bird in the alpine areas where climbers go.  They breed in above tree line.  I have only seen them on occasion and usually only in places where climbers do not go very often.

Mountain Bluebird
A fairly common resident of the Eastern Cascades.

Grey Crowned Rosy Finch
The Grey Crowned Rosy Finch is also seen fairly often on glaciers feeding on insects.  Its a little smaller than the Horned Lark.  It looks a lot like a sparrow until you get close enough to see the grey coloring around the back of the neck and on the cheeks.

Raven
It seems every climber has a raven story.  These are usually related to some type of amazing feat where the raven has opened up a zipper and removed some food.

Sooty Grouse
Common in alpine areas in the late summer.  It seems like Mt. Baker is a pretty common place to see these guys.

White Tailed Ptarmigan
White tailed ptarmigans are fairly common in the Cascades above tree line.  Their distinctive chicken like call is often heard right at dusk, as the birds come together in pairs and move to the center of glaciers or snow fields to spend the night.  In the winter these birds have completely white plumage.  Unfortunately I don't have a photo of any in their winter plumage.
A site with more information and a recording of their call is here.

Golden Eagle
Maybe it because I am better at identifying them, but in the last few years I have have seen a lot of Golden Eagles hunting in alpine areas.  Each time I have seen them there has been more than one and they have been hunting as a pair.  Marmots seem to be a favorite food of these birds.

Northern Harrier
I have only seen a norther harrier once, and it was on Mt. Baker.  Like the Golden Eagle it was probably hunting marmots.

Peregrine Falcon
More common at popular rock climbing areas than in the alpine areas.  It is still not unheard of to see a peregrine falcon above tree line.

Osprey
Although not common on the west side of the Cascades the osprey is a very common bird of prey on the eastern slopes.  They will sometimes fish in alpine lakes along the eastern crest of the Cascades.  I have seen them above Blue Lake at Washington Pass and in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area.  They are very common at Colchuck Lake.

Seattle Backyard Birds and How to Attract Them.

When I first bought my house here in Seattle the yard was a wasteland of non native plants and invasive species. One of the only saving graces of the yard was a 50ft tall western hemlock. One side of the yard was completely overrun by 20 ft tall skyrocket juniper with English ivy and holly bushes filling in the gaps. The bird species that frequented the yard was pretty much confined to the sparrow, which is also an introduced species. 

Our lot is small (50ft x 100ft) and I never really expected I could create much of a sanctuary for birds, but I did not like ivy or holly, and I hated the juniper bushes. Over the last seven years I removed most of the non native species of plants from the yard and replaced them with native ferns and trees in the hope it might help bring some native birds back to the property. I never expected how successful this would be. This spring we have an abundance of birds in and around our yard, and I am sure it is due to the changes in flora that we have made, in addition to the overall changes in flora choices around the neighborhood.

One of the first things we did was remove the skyrocket juniper. These things were overgrown and ugly. There were five of them and at the ground they were as much as 2ft in diameter. Most people choose to cut trees they don't want to the ground, I decided that if we wanted birds we needed food for those birds. I cut several of the stumps at 4 to 5feet above the ground and left them to rot in place. I have also added a few ferns to grow in the stumps.

The next thing was to remove all holly and ivy from the property. These are invasive species. Ivy supports almost no bird life and crowds out other native species. Holly is invading our northwest forests and is very difficult to remove. several birds feed on the berries which unfortunately causes it to spread even faster.

I am an advocate of large native trees on small lots. I planted several western red cedars a couple Douglas fir and several western hemlock. They were all small saplings, which will be removed and replaced as soon as they get too large for the area. I also planted several vine maples and at least 6 varieties of ferns. Other plants I used are devils club, Oregon oxalis, Oregon grape, thimble berry native blackberry varieties, and numerous other random plants. Not everything is native however. I planted a grape vine, and a whole bunch of raspberries. I also have some anemones to add a little color to the yard.

Our side yard.

Each year the plants in the yard become more established and each year we have more birds. So far this year the list of birds in our yard has been amazing considering the size of the lot. What is even more amazing is the number of birds that have chosen to nest in our yard. Here are a few of the birds. All of these photos were shot while standing in my yard in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle.



Anna's Hummingbird





Song Sparrow



All of the following photos are of birds that are nesting in our yard. The bushtits are not nesting this year, but did last year.

A chickadee perched in the grape vine.

Chickadee

A Bewick's wren moving in to a nest box. It seems like the Bewick's is more common each year. There is not a place in Phinney Ridge you can go without hearing the call of the Bewick's.

Bewick's Wren

This pair of Stellar's Jays are currently building a nest in our yard.



Stellar's Jay



Stellar's Jay

Although there is no nest this year, we did have a bushtit nest in our hemlock tree last year.

Bush tit

One more note about nesting birds. The first couple of years we had several house sparrows move in to our nest boxes. House sparrows are pretty agressive birds and dont really help gain native species of birds. I removed the eggs from these boxes and then moved them different locations in the yard. Sparrows no longer use the boxes, and chickadees and Bewick's wrens have now moved in.

Other birds in the yard.

Savanah Sparrow?

Mallard pair that returns every year to the puddles in the ally way.

A juvenile American Robin

Golden Crowned sparrow with a broken wing. This bird ended up at the PAWS wildlife rehab center in Lynnwood.

American Crow.

A sharp shinned hawk in the neighbors apple tree.

Northern Flicker

I made it my goal to get photos of each of the bird species that I have seen in our yard. This however has not been possible, so here is a list of the other species I have seen in our yard.

Starling (A non native, invasive species)
House Finch (Common)
Pigeon (Sometimes)
Peregrine Falcon (Several times a year)

Ruby Crowned Kinglet (Common)
Dark Eyed Junco (Common)

Other species that I have seen from our yard but not necessarily in the yard.

Coopers Hawk (I see this guy hunting in the neighborhood)
Bald Eagle (Probably the Greenlake pair, fairly common.)