Deer Park

One of the best areas for birding  "in the trees" that I have found for this time of year is the Deer Park road.  The road is currently closed to car traffic, but is open for walking.  It is a great walk amongst the pines, cedars and firs.  When the road is open it is about a 9 mile drive to the edge of the alpine. There is a campground there and also trails that lead in several directions.

Views from the Deer Park road.

Pictured below is a Red-breasted Sapsucker, Sphyrapicus ruber, which is a member of the woodpecker family, Picidae.  Sapsuckers eat sap, insects and fruit.  The birds consume sap by drilling holes in trees to get the sap dripping.  These sap wells provide food for not just the sapsuckers, but hummingbirds and insects as well. Rufous Hummingbirds have been known to nest near a sap well and often follow the sapsuckers as they maintain the sap wells. Red-breasted Sapsuckers remain on the peninsula year round. Males and females are nearly identical. 

Deer Park is east and across several valleys from Hurricane Ridge.  You can see the Hurricane Ridge road from the Deer Park road.  The summit of Blue Mountain (6,010 feet or 1,831 meters) can be easily hiked from Deer Park.  From Deer Park there is another trail that will lead you to the summits of Green Mountain (5,622 feet or 1,713 meters) and Maiden Peak (6,434 feet or , 1,961 meters). It is about 3 - 4 miles each way to those peaks and 7.4 miles one way to Obstruction Point. 

Pictured below is a Varied Thrush, Ixoreus naevius. These are one of the most common birds you will see as you hike through the trees. Varied Thrushes are slightly migratory. Some of the birds migrate and some do not. Varied Thrushes can be found on the peninsula year round. Pictured below is a male bird.  Females look very similar, but lack some of the black markings and are a bit more grey in color.