I'm just now catching up with my e mail
and thought that Tweeters would like to
know about our trip to WA. Since most
of you have probably forgotten, "we"
are the group from PA who visited the
area from Aug 2 through 12.

We managed to find about 140 species of
birds; we didn't see anything
spectacular by Pacific Coast standards,
but all of us got some lifers (and this
includes one guy who had done a pretty
extensive tour of the area before.)
The number of species probably could
have been higher, but there were some
extenuating circumstances:
1. We really covered a lot of gouund
in a short time (as some of you had
noted earlier.) We did manage to visit
every area on our itinerary - except
the Hoh Rainforest - but we did not
spend a lot of time in any one area.
Also, it was frequently a long drive
from our motels to the places we wanted
to visit - so we weren't there first
thing in the morning.
2. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! I did
not expect to get sunburnt on this
trip, but that is exactly what
happened. We were rained on once, for
about 15 minutes. I suspect that this
kept shorebird numbers down, but I
could be wrong. Perhaps we were there
too early in the migration.
3. Our timing was a bit off for the
smaller birds. The breeders were
(mostly) done breeding, and thus were
hard to find (and see.) Of course,
this is related to #1; if we had spent
more time, I'm sure we would have found
more of the little birds. (I did want
to see a Varied Thrush.)

You have a beautiful state (but you
know that already...) Your mountains
are even more impressive than the
Rockies, as far as I'm concerned. I
was a little disappointed in your
forest wildflowers (none), but the
vegetation of Hurricane Ridge and Mt.
Ranier more than compensated for it.
Erigeron peregrinus - Wow!

Again, thanks to those who e mailed me
information and comments, particularly
on such short notice. I plan to return
-- not permanently, but someday (soon,
I hope.) (Actually, I need a place
with more sunshine year round. I guess
I'm still in PA because there aren't a
lot of jobs for chemistry lab personnel
in Tucson.)

I don't have the official trip bird
list yet, but when I do, I'll try to
post it.

Thanks again, and good birding!

Eugene Zielinski
Bellefonte, PA

gzielins at ruetgers-nease.com