Maureen et al,

I'm still trying to forget the Christmas Count. While the
weather was beautiful the day was a little too "interesting."
I spent the morning being followed by a reporter and photographer
for the local paper who were doing a story on the count. While i
appreciated the press it gave our chapter's efforts it did slow me
way down; i missed covering many of the productive spots I usually
cover. After they went home at noon I was by myself and shortly
thereafter locked my keys in my car. My spare key was at home
instead of my wallet where it belongs so i wasted an hour waiting
for my sister to retrieve it and bring ot to me. Really though
it could've been worse if she hadn't been home when i called.

I then had a start on a good afternoon with a nice flock
of sparrows that included 2 Lincoln's, a White-crowned, 7 Gold-
en-crowned Sparrows and a Towhee. After that i headed over to
the flooded fields near the Valley Drive-in where i'd seen a
large flock of gulls the previous day. They were gone and when
I was turning my car on a narrow road near a farmhouse my front
wheels went a foot or so off the pavement and with my front wheel
drive i was soon mired in the mud of a lettuce field! I spent
30 minutes trying to get out but ended up walking half a mile
to a phone and calling a tow truck! A fitting end to the day.

Somehow I managed to see a few birds including the
Merlin which frequents the Smith dairy at S 277th and Central
Ave in south kent (not the Smith Dairy on W Valley hwy, it
has it's own Merlin and Peregrine), a Red-breasted Sapsucker
and a Cooper's Hawk along the Soos creek trail and a heard
Screech Owl along Soos creek towards 224th.

Our final tally was in the neighborhood of 110 species
which is just a tad below average. Without much saltwater we
miss some of the birds that would bolster us into the typical
120 species Puget Sound average.

Jim
Flynn
Renton, WA
bf519 at scn.org