I really wanted to find out what kind of bird we had encountered in the Olympics that put me into a high-stepping dance. I posted the photos and asked for help on the bird forum and found out that she is an American Pipit!
My bird book says that they lay 4 or 5 eggs in a cup of grass and twigs built on the ground in a shelter of rock. In North America the Pipit feeds on countless insects on the edge of tundra puddles, where as in alpine meadows it visits unmelted snowbanks. Warm air rising from the valley below transports many insects to high altitudes; many of these die and are frozen in snowbanks, providing food for the pipits.
Perfect- snowbanks around the area... meadows and a lake with several tarns around. Mystery solved!
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