Dear Tweeters,

Today, 5/3/97, the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society had a morning field
trip to the Dungeness River riparian forests and Dungeness Bay, seeing
and hearing 76 species in about 4 hours. Some observations:

1) Shorebirds have substantially decreased during the last two weeks, as
most wintering Dunlin and B.B. Plovers have moved on. Mudflat shorebirds
today included these two, plus Semipalmated Plover, Whimbrel, Marbled
Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, W. and Least Sandpiper, Short-billed
Dowitcher, and Killdeer.

2) Warblers were thick in the riparian forest today. Many singing males.
Warblers included Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped (all Audubon's today),
Black-throated Gray, Townsend's, MacGillivray's, Wilson's, and
Yellowthroat (in adjacent wet fields), all seen and heard along about a
half-mile walk. The Mac and Wilson's were the first for the year we've
seen around here. Other than Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped, and
Yellowthroat, we believe that many of these birds are very recent
arrivals; have others seen a substantial influx of warblers in W. Wash.in
the last few days?

3) Pacific-slope Flycatchers have arrived in mass during the last few
days -- very vocal in the denser forests.

4) Others have commented on Tweeters about Yellow-headed Blackbirds
sightings in W. Washington lately. Likewise here, with recent sightings
(4/26 & 5/2) at 3 Crabs and near Dungeness Recreation Area.

5) Unfortunately, cowbirds seem especially ubiquitous this spring
throughout Olympic Peninsula lowland forests and patchwork farmlands.


6) We haven't heard or seen a Red Crossbill around here in many months,
as others have commented in eastern Wash. Likewise, Cedar Waxwings are
very scarce. Evening Grosbeaks are locally common, but not a
particularly great year for them either.

7) Western Bluebirds seem to be expanding on the north Olympic Peninsula,
with new pairs recently reported in mixed forest/farmlands south of
Sequim and just east of Port Angeles, using nest boxes. At one of these
sites my family watched a pair of bluebirds flycatching for honey bees
today, as their nest box is 50 feet away from a bee hive in a small,
backyard apple orchard. Reminds me of the old chemistry joke -- what
chemical element do you have if you swallow a bee? Tungsten!

Bob Boekelheide
Sequim