Tweets,

Well, we just came back from a 2-day whirlwind tour of our
favorite (and some new) Puget sound haunts. We drove out from Pullman on
Tuesday and took Crab Creek Road from west-of-Othello to Beverly. We
missed Gillis road and had to take 8 SE (I think that's the right
direction name thingy), but I'm glad we missed it. We saw a lot of
Sandhill Cranes (lifer) and got some fantastic pictures of Western
Meadowlarks. Unfortunately, the cranes were travelling to a small marsh
barely visible from the road and on private property--lucky people!

The next birding stop was the Skagit wildlife area, where we got
to see some amazing blue-winged teals hanging out, a female Harrier
menacing a housecat (!), a HUGE accipter in very clear light, and a small
sparrow that could have been a Song or Lincoln Sparrow--> It haddark
streaking on its chest, a grey eyebrow, and a dark blck dot on its
breast. No tail-pumping was seen and no vocalizations were heard.
At the dike, we found two fully adult Bald Eagles munching on some fish.

Then, we were going to go to the end of Fir Island/Rawlins road
for some Snow Geese/Short-eared Owls, but the humongous flock of Snow
Geese posing by the side of the road was too exciting: we stopped and had
a good long look.

The next day, we went to Joseph Whidbey Park and saw a lineup
that would be hard to match on the Palouse: a mixed flock of Common
Merganser, Common Loon, Bufflehead, and Barrow's Goldeneye. Wow! You
Puget Sounders must be spoiled!
On the Keystone Ferry, I saw a whale! (Not a great birding
sighting, maybe, but I liked it!) In Port Townsend, we saw Long-tailed
Ducks (lifer) and some very photogenic cormorants.
From here, we went to the other side of Discovery Bay. I was
looking for John Wayne Marina, but didn't know it-- all I could remember
was "Sequim Bay." So, we stopped at East Sequim Bay Recreation area, and
asked the cool people in the Social and Health Sevrices building if we
could bird from their driveway. They said yes, and we were treated to a
Red-throated Loon chasing fish in the shallow water. What a fantastic
bird! By the "Log Road" a little up the frontage road, we saw 7 Eurasion
Wigeons (lifer). Wow-- pretty good for getting lost, eh?

The next stop sounded "Sequimy:" Sequim Bay State Park. We drove
down to the moorings area and birded while a charming couple with a
really cool dog focused their binocs on a Common Merganser. It was neat
to see him so up close and personal. There were plenty of Buffleheads
too, and one loon (probably Common) very far off shore.

Then, certain that we had found the right place, we zoomed
towards Dungeness Spit-- but then I saw the John Wayne sign! Ack! That's
the "real" birding site.... We deliberated for a second and then went
ahead and checked it out. Needless to say, I was happy: I got the chance
to shoot a lot of film on a Common Goldeneye, Common Mergansers, a cute
white gull with pink feet (who I will attempt to identify when the photos
are developed), and another lifer: Black Oystercatcher. I think the
colloquial name should be: "Blue Meanie Bird" because of the way their
beak opens up and the little scream comes out.

Eventually, near dusk, we made it to Dungeness Spit. Beautiful
place, loved it-- especially the Kingfisher I watched hanging around. Not
the ton of waterfowl I expected, but hey--> I was too tired to walk the
whole spit.

We drove back to Pullman (ugh) that night (talk about no sleep
for birders!). At the Ryegrass rest area, we stopped and took a gander
at Hyakutake's Comet: WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! If you live in the
urban areas, leave-go to the country somewhere on a clear night before
Sunday, and take a look at this comet! Find the Big Dipper and look down
and to the right--look at the fuzzy thing in the sky (it is very visible
with the naked eye-- but the binoculars make it AWESOME!!!) You can see
the bright core of it, and the tail is mega-impressive.

Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions that made our trip one of
the best we have ever taken!

-Pat
scott931 at uidaho.edu





On Mon, 18 Mar 1996, Scott Ray wrote:

> >>From scray Sat Mar 16 22:33:24 1996
> >Here's all you ever wanted to know about comet Hyakutake...
> >http://NewProducts.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/hyakutake/
> It should be a great show...