forwarding....... He arrived n Washington about a week ago and has already seen some of the species on the list. Hi Tweeters My name is Dorian Anderson, and I am currently involved in a HUGE birding project for 2014. In short, I am doing a nationwide big year using only a bicycle (and a kayak when I reach Monterey, CA). Since January 1 when I left Boston, I have biked 10,400 miles and found/ticked 514 bird species. I have also raised ~$25,000 that will be used for bird conservation. I am keeping a very thorough blog of the adventure at http://bikingforbirds.blogspot.com I am currently in La Grande, Oregon. I will be heading through Northeastern Oregon along the I-84 corridor towards Yakima, WA. I am hoping to do a loop through the Okanogan NF and the North Cascades to look for Boreal Chickadee and Spruce grouse and, if I am incredible lucky, White-winged crossbill. I was hoping to ride Route 20 from Mazama west through the mountains, but I hear that fires might complicate this and other aspects of my potential time in the North Cascades. Any info on the fire front would be particularly helpful. Should I get shut out of the Cascades, I might try for Spruce grouse west of Yakima to save some miles or riding. Regardless of what happens with the North Cascades, I will certainly bird Mount Rainier for Gray-crowned rosy-finch and Sooty grouse. These two birds are absolute "must finds" for me to be close to my goal of 600 species for the year. After Rainier, I will cut out the WA coast, head south to Haystack Rock for Tufted puffin, cut back inland around Portland, and then cut back to the coast near Coos Bay. This route is still very rough and will almost certainly be significantly modified as I progress. I will also spend time looking for Sagebrush sparrow around Yakima in the next few days. Otherwise, I think I should be able to find many other birds that will be new for the year (cormorants, west coast shorebirds, alcids, woodpeckers, etc) during the next month. Mountain quail could be a sticky bird, so I'll need to pin that down as well. Here is a complete list of birds I want to find in the next month between Washington and Oregon. Should I miss any of these, most them can also be found on my route south through California. Greater-white fronted goose (I’m on the early side for this) Pacific loon Brandt’s cormorant Pelagic cormorant Sooty shearwater Black oystercatcher Wandering tattler Black turnstone Surfbird Sooty grouse (must get this) Spruce grouse (very tough) Mountain quail (need spot for this) Mew gull Glaucous-winged gull Heermann’s gull Western gull Pigeon guillemot Marbled murrelet Rhinocerous auklet Common murre Tufted puffin (Haystack rock) Vaux’s swift Red-breasted sapsucker White-headed woodpecker Varied thrush Pacific wren Boreal chickadee (very tough) Wrentit Chestnut-backed chickadee Pacific-slope flycatcher Cassin’s vireo Hermit warbler Sagebrush sparrow Gray-crowned rosy-finch Purple finch White-winged crossbill OK, that's it for the moment. Thanks for the time! -- Jim Danzenbaker Battle Ground, WA 360-702-9395 jdanzenbaker@xxxxxxxxx