Tweeters;

Ian MacGregor and I got to see the Dickcissel in Ocean Shores this morning
(9:45-10:am). It was in a mixed flock of House Finch, Purple Finch and
White-crowned Sparrows. I agree with Russell in his conclusion the bird is
an adult male. The rufous shoulder patch and black bib were easy to see this
morning and it wasn't even raining (at that moment). It was very hospitable
of Norm to invite everyone in out of the cold. A very nice man (we need
more of those......oops it must be Friday). We did get ALOT of
hail/sleet/rain on the trip down and back. No Little Gull at American lake
but alot of Tree/Violet Green Swallows and Red-necked Grebes sporting their
Red necks already.

We also stopped at Nisqually and drove into the refuge headquarters to get
an update on the repair work (no Slatey-backed Gull-bummer). I talked to
Sheila McCartan at the front desk. Right now none of the trails are open
and she thinks they may not re-open until the end of March at the earliest
and more likely the end of April. The waters have receded this week and the
damage was extensive. The boardwalks in most cases were washed away and
there were several breaches in the dikes. One of the more serious was one
close to the freeway overpass that was still allowing water into the fields
south and up to the parking lot (apparently they just discovered it). The
ring dike was damaged as well there was a very serious breach just east of
it and the boardwalk north from the barn is gone. On the southwest side
there is alot of water visible from the freeway. She said this was now
tidal. We asked if they intended on closing the dikes back up or were they
looking at culverts and she thought they would likely put at least one
culvert in at the most serious breach (NW corner I think).

dats da news
Tracee Geernaert
tracee at iphc.washington.edu