Hi Tweets,

After a mid-day thundershower that featured enough hail to sprinkle the
lawn with a half inch of white kernels, the sun came out and I headed to
the Everett Sewage Treatment plant under summery blue skies. The bushes
were full of Savannah, Lincoln's and Song Sparrows, with a good sprinkling
of Orange-crowned Warblers and Common Yellowthroats.

Highlights included:

2 Merlins
1 Franklin's Gull
10 Eared Grebes and
11 White-fronted Geese

The Merlins, irascible as always, chased each other and a Red-tail, who
returned the favor several minutes later, coming in on a long level glide
to flush one of the Merlins off its perch.

I sifted through the approximately 1500 Bonaparte's Gulls in hopes of
turning up something else of note, but had to settle for the one
Franklin's, three Mew, one Ring-billed and one Glaucous-winged.

The number of Eared Grebes surprised me, but maybe I just haven't been in
the right place at the right time - even seeing one Eared Grebe would
normally make me happy. Two Westerns were out on the pond, too.

Six Pectoral Sandpipers and a few Greater Yellowlegs were with the
Whitefronts in a little marsh next to the ponds. The Whitefronts seemed a
little skittish, and took off about 20 minutes after I found them.
Perhaps they were knocked down by the thunderstorm?

On the way out I heard American Pipits calling and a flock of perhaps 30
flew over.

Chris Hill
Everett, WA
cehill at u.washington.edu