Subject: Sat. at Montlake Fill; Sun. at Skagit Flats (a bit long)
Date: Nov 18 09:20:54 1997
From: Anna Coles - acoles at u.washington.edu


Hello, Tweetsters. My husband, Steven, and I birded a bit this past
weekend. Our report from Saturday early afternoon at The Fill is mostly a
request for help: What was that little bird we saw: Gray with black tail
and wings, white "windows" near tips of wings; a slight mask or horizontal
line over eyes, but not a decided hook on beak? Steven said he saw quite
a bit of yellow on the belly (I never did, but I didn't see it in optimum
light); I thought I saw a white rump. We began to wonder if we saw two
birds; could there have been both a Northern Shrike and a WEstern Kingbird
at The Fill? Has anyone else seen either one (or something else) there
recently? We also saw White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows, we think
a Marsh Wren, two Ring-necked Pheasants, some female (?) Northern
Shovelers, Mallards, Am. Robins, and probably others I'm forgetting.
Thanks in advance for any help with the mystery bird. Please reply to or
cc me in your responses.
Sunday in the Skagit Flats, we saw little, but one bird species surprised
us: Ostriches! Someone is apparently farming them there. We also saw,
at various parts of the Flats while we were driving around, Red-tailed
Hawks, we think Rough-legged Hawks, Northern Harriers, a Bald Eagle, an
American Kestrel, and our first sighting of Sunday, just west of I-5 near
Conway, about 43 Swans in a fallow field. We still can't distinguish
between Tundra and Trumpeter (even using all the pointers we've gathered
recently), but we're guessing this group was either Tundra or a mixed
flock. We saw larger flocks farther north and west, in fields we could
not get close to in the car. If anyone else was in the area and can
positively ID the Swans, I'd appreciate knowing your ID. --Anna and
Steven Coles, Seattle, WA acoles at u.washington.edu