Hello, fellow tweets,

Yesterday, late afternoon, my husband and I were beginning a short walk
on the interpretive trail at Marymoor Park in east King County, near
Redmond. Very near the east (I think??) entrance to that trail (near the
dog off-leash area) we saw and heard what we think is a LOGGERHEAD
SHRIKE. Is that possible? The mask went all the way across the eyes and
over the bill (looked like Geordi LaForge on Star Trek NG), while there
was no discernible hook to the bill as in Northern shrike. The song and
flight pattern matched the descriptions in the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC FIELD
GUIDE. We also saw what looked like dark bars (at least 2, I think) on
the underside of the long, narrow, dark tail. That feature was not
mentioned in the field guide. What are the chances that we really did
see a loggerhead shrike? If not that, what else could it have been? We
don't think it was a mockingbird or a kingbird. Thanks for your opinions.

Our Saturday sighting was not unusual but was very welcome: we finally
saw Brant geese on the Port Orchard waterfront this season! We hadn't
seen any earlier in the winter, though we heard of them being at Alki.
We estimate about 40 in the Port Orchard area. I don't know if they had
been there before and we'd just missed them, or if they just arrived in the
area; maybe they're getting ready to migrate to someplace else soon?
--Anna Coles, Seattle, WA acoles at u.washington.edu