Outram, October 8

[bandj]

A glorious autumn day on Outram. Up to the tarn, where there was very little water left:



Gorgeous colours of the berry bushes on the way up. The iridescent maroon colour was as bright as paintbrush in high summer. A nice clear set of bear prints in fresh snow, but thankfully no bear:



Lots of huge mushrooms poking up through the soil:



And of course some birds. Near the parking lot:

Red Crossbills
Pileated or Northern Flicker - heard but couldn't tell which
Common Raven

Up the trail:

Red-breasted Nuthatch
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Mountain Chickadee - lots of very busy birds, gathering and hiding seeds for the winter
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
A Red-tailed Hawk soaring overhead, and spooking a
Gray Jay who was making alarm calls we hadn't heard before
Steller's Jay

Possibly a flock of White-winged Crossbills - we heard them and just saw the flock move off from high in the tree canopy, but can't confirm for sure....

A pair of pale birds at the tarn, either Horned Larks or American Pipits? too distant to positively identify.

Three-toed Woodpecker
Varied Thrush.

The birding highlight was seeing a small group of juvenile Pine Grosbeaks.



Bryan and Janet

[Chris]

A hike that I have to do next year. It looks so beautiful up there and a lot of good birds as well.

There will probably be a lot of snow up there in the next few days.

[Gord]

Like Chris, this is a hike Id love to do as well!

Nice photos. Great shot of the Pine Grosbeaks. Seems to be a few White-winged Crossbills around, very possible that is what you saw!

Thanks for sharing.