Two Life Birds and Some Lovely Mammals, Too

Sometimes animals surprise me as I wander along trails in search of wildflowers. The Gray Jay and Sooty Grouse-- both hen and chick-- were hard to miss beside trails on Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. Since I keep a Life List of birds, I added them to my tally. This adorable Olympic Chipmunk is an endemic species, only found here in the Olympic Mountains. The deer with antlers were spotted while walking in those mountains, except for the one with the longest antlers... he surprised me just by resting behind my garage!