Even on a less that perfectly clear day the vistas on a hike at Mt. Rainier can be breathtaking.
Living in western Washington, U.S. has the decided benefit of having a wide variety of bird habitats. One of the most unique is the subalpine and alpine areas of Mount Rainier. Mount Rainier is a 14,417 foot mountain, the highest peak in Washington and among the highest peaks in the lower 48 United States. Only Mount Whitney (14505 ft.) in California, and three peaks in Colorado, Mount Ebert (14,440 ft), Mount Massive (14,428 ft.) and Mt. Harvard (14,421 ft.) are higher. None of these other peaks have the appearance of almost standing alone among foothills like Mt. Rainier.
Mountain birding at Mt. Rainier is limited to a fairly brief summer window of time unless you are a show-shoe or nordic ski adventurer. During the months from late June until early September though the hiking and birding can be excellent. Birds seen primarily at high altitude at Mt. Rainier in summer include White-tailed ptarmigan, Gray-crowned rosy finch, Mountain bluebird, Mountain chickadee, Townsend's solitaire, Pine grosbeak, Black swift, Golden eagle, American pipit and lots more.
American pipit on a hike out of Sunrise, Mt. Rainier.
In addition to high-altitude avian specialties it can be fun to see mammals on the mountain. Mountain goats, Hoary marmots, and Pika are fairly common and often obliging to photographers.
Mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) are commonly seen on hikes out of Sunrise.
The whistling of Hoary Marmots (Marmota caligatamakes) them hard to miss.
Pika (Ochotona princeps) also whistle, but are smaller and can be more difficult to locate.
Black bear are often seen foraging in the huckleberry patches of meadows, or sometimes sleeping in the forested areas.
A birding hike on Mt. Rainier may yield you a relatively short list of bird species, but rarely fails to give you a great nature experience.
Good birding.
