WASHINGTON ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY BIRDBOX
15-28 May 1996

Prepared by Lisa Smith and Russell Rogers. Minor editorial changes have
been made to some messages to enhance readability.

The BirdBox is a service of the Washington Ornithological Society (WOS).
To access the BirdBox call (206) 454-2662 and follow the directions.
Black-capped, Chestnut-Backed, Mountain and Boreal Chickadees are resident
in Washington State.

To Join WOS send check for $20.00 for single membership or $25.00 for
family membership to: WOS, Post Office Box 31783, Seattle, Washington
98103-1783.

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10:23 a.m. 05/15/96: Renee Englund [sp?], 672-4369. Karen and I went to
Wenas Creek Campground on May 13th, Monday. At the campground itself, we
saw a few RED CROSSBILLS, a male WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER, and a
WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. The road in, Untanum Road, was quite spectacular
in the birds we saw. We saw [a] male LAZULI BUNTING; 3 male WESTERN
TANAGERS; several male BULLOCK'S ORIOLES; WILSON'S WARBLERS; [and]
ORANGE-CROWNED, NASHVILLE, BLACK-THROATED, GRAY, TOWNSEND'S, YELLOW, and
both [Audubon's and Mytle] YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. We also saw LEWIS'S
WOODPECKERS.

6:50 p.m. 05/15/96: Dennis Duffy in Edmonds. The LITTLE GULL in breeding
plumage put in a brief appearance at the Edmonds fishing pier this
afternoon. I watched it for about ten minutes or so. It was with some
BONAPARTE'S GULLS that kept coming and going, and I guess it disappeared
with them. There was also a flock of SANDERLINGS there, one of which was
in full alternate plumage, which you don't see on the Edmonds waterfront
every day.

9:54 a.m. 05/18/96: David Lauten and Kathleen Castlebaum. We are now at
(509) 674-5419. We are living in the Teanaway Valley northeast of Cle
Elum. Anybody who's interested in coming up birding this way can give us
a call, and we might be able to put you on to some of the local birds.
We're working on a songbird project in the valley here. Anybody who's
interested in helping us out doing any volunteer work, nest searching, can
give us a call. We'd appreciate any help we can get. And there may also be
a little bit of money available for anybody who may want to help us do a
couple of songbird counts on the land up here. Anybody who's interested,
please give us a call and leave a message.

1:31 p.m. 05/18/96: Michael Preba, (206) 542-7625. This bird is an escaped
exotic, but it's a very pretty little bird here at Echo Lake, up on the
boundary of King and Snohomish Counties in Shoreline. We have a RINGED
TEAL, a little South American duck that obviously has come out of
somebody's duck pond, but it is a *gorgeous* bird. There is a small park
at the north, northeast corner of the lake if you want to have a look at
it. It's down here at the south end, which is, unfortunately, private
property that I can't let people on. At any rate, you all ought to come
see this bird if you've never seen one before.

4:49 p.m. 05/19/96: Steve Mlodinow. Today I spent the morning up at
Kellogg Lake Road, where I headed north near Start Up from U.S. 2. First
good bird I got to [see] was a LAZULI BUNTING. This is near where there's
been a colony in the past. Go up Kellogg Lake Road 'til you hit the first
road that goes off to the left (this is either 132nd or 123rd), and the
male was singing in the vicinity of this intersection. I have a
tantalizing bird that I heard two miles north of the intersection of
Sultan Basin Road and Kellogg Lake Road. When you hit this intersection of
these two roads, continue north towards Spoda Lake. Between 2 and 2.5
miles from this intersection, I heard a bird calling that sounded for all
the world like a BOREAL OWL around 9:30 a.m. It called three times and
started calling only after I started doing a Barred Owl imitation. There
is no Snipe habitat anywhere near there, which is the only bird I can
imagine I might confuse for a BOREAL OWL around here. If anyone gets a
chance to go out and play some tapes at night there, it might be
worthwhile. In any case, the rest of the trip up to Kellogg Road was
reasonably interesting: 8 species of WARBLER, those things that normally
occur in Snohomish County, had GRAY JAY, and a few other nice things like
that.

8:36 a.m. 05/20/96: Scott Atkinson, (360) 691-7232, reporting for the 19th
of May, Sunday. Nothing too exciting, but the first 2 BLACK SWIFTS of the
season were low over Fir Island Road in Skagit County. Also, another
NASHVILLE WARBLER at Washington Park near Anacortes that day, a female
this time. Also, along the east edge, a HOUSE WREN and a CHIPPING SPARROW,
which are usually rather difficult to find in Skagit County. And then, a
belated report: One of the 2 DUSKY FLYCATCHERS that I found on the third
of May in Discovery Park has remained on a brushy hillside just south of
the Daybreak Indian Heritage Center at Discovery, that being a rather
unusual place for one to stay for two weeks.

3:18 p.m. 05/20/96: Ben Freeman. Yesterday, Sunday the 19th, there were an
OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER and a WESTERN TANAGER at Ravenna Park.

12:10 p.m. 05/24/96: Scott Hoskin, 206/789-8990. I saw a male and female
PURPLE MARTIN in front of the Shilshoe Bay Beach Club at the 6400 block of
Seaview Avenue [in Seattle]. I saw them on the 15th and then again today.
It looks like they're looking for a nesting site; they've been competing
with the Starlings.

9:04 p.m. 05/26/96: Gary Smith, 932-6913 in West Seattle. This afternoon I
saw a pair of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS in Schmitz Park in West Seattle. I don't
know whether they're nesting or not, but if someone wants directions to
where I saw them, give me a call.

11:11 p.m. 05/26/96: Steve Giles, 783-9346. Today at Ocean Shores there
were 2 BROWN PELICANS, one of them an adult, one an immature; 10 HEERMAN'S
GULLS, at least two of them adults, passing north; and, finally, at the
Ocean Shores Sewage Treatment Plant, 2 female RED-NECKED PHALAROPES.

5:42 p.m. 05/27/96: Gary Blech, 360/853-7203. Today I found 2 DUSKY
FLYCATCHERS above Jackman Creek, near Concrete in Skagit County. It's
rather difficult to describe the location, but if you're interested in
tracking these two down, you can give me a call.

1:05 p.m. 05/28/96: Scott Atkinson, 360/691-7232, reporting for Memorial
Day, May 27th. Among 71 species found over the course of the day, up 'til
noon in coastal Skagit County, the highlight certainly [was] 2 male
BOBOLINK that were seen and heard as they flew northwest right over the
Skagit Wildlife Management Area headquarters. This is, I believe, just the
second time for Skagit County for BOBOLINK. I'd also like to report
another DUSKY FLYCATCHER, this time from our place in north Lake Stevens,
Snohomish County. The bird was found just before dusk on May 24th. This
seems to be a better-than-average spring for Duskies and also NASHVILLE
WARBLER west of the Cascades.