Subject:
Easter at the Point (too long for some)
Date:
Sun, 12 Apr 1998 19:50:23 -0800
From:
Ken Klimko <kkalimo at direct.ca>
To:
"tweeters at u.washington.edu" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>


Tweets,

Typically I won't write this publicly, instead opting to forward to
those individuals who would hopefully not tire as easily as this group
might and still find this interesting and forgive my spelling errors.

Not long ago, a personal e-mail was sent to this list commenting that
"nothing new" had happened, just the same old lists of birds seen by
certain individuals. This note had precluded my posting of regular
outings to the list. But then I remembered thanking many posters for
their sightings with the recognition that many of us appreciated
learning what possible birds could be seen at certain locations during
particular times of the year. Please keep those posts coming, as we
can't all be everywhere all of the time.

OK, enough melancholy pondering, on with the show.

This Easter weekend, "Happy Easter!" my son Kris and I spent at Point
Roberts and enjoyed some great birding with over 60 species observed. I
have attempted to abbreviate the weekend for all.

Red-throated Loon
Pacific Loon Staged on the water in groups of 8 or so
Common Loon Alternate plumaged birds, save 1
Horned Grebe Pre-alt molt. Interesting to see the lateness of
.
plumage since visiting SE AZ a couple of weeks ago
Red-necked Grebe Alternate molt
Western Grebe 2 birds total
Double-crested Cormorant, not as numerous as they have been over winter
Pelagic Cormorant Many showing white flank patches
Great Blue Herons
Brant Hundreds and hundreds flying about in loose knit
.
.
flocks and staging on the beach. Some birds banded.
Canada Goose One migrant flock of 24 birds, heading North of all.

things.
Scaup Sp. One flock only, about 10 birds
Harlequin Duck Many, usually close to shore. Some banded birds also.
Oldsquaw (or LT) One of the days there were quite a few
Black Scoter 7 males taking turns with the single female in the

group. No wine.....no jazz. Cigarettes for all.
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Common Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Turkey Vulture 1 bird only, a first this year locally for us
Bald Eagle all ages
Cooper's Hawk adult
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-necked Pheasant
Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher Not a bird you'd go to the Point to see, but a nice

bird to see at the Point.
Black Turnstone Up to 24 together one time.
Sanderling 66 together
Rock Sandpiper Yea Hoo! Lifer. 2 with the Black Turnstone group
Dunlin Not regular at the Point, 8 with the Sanderling.
Bonaparte's Gull Over 50 in total, way out in the straight
Mew Gull
California Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot Both basic and alternate
Marbled Murrelet Both basic and alternate. 3 birds total. Try as I

would I could not turn the basic birds into Ancient

Murrelets.
Rhinoceros Auklet Surprisingly an abundant bird with around 30 birds in

prealt moult. (horns not yet fully developed)
Rock Dove
Rufous Hummingbird Many
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
NW Crow
Common Raven
BC Chickadee
CB Chickadee
RB Nuthatch
Winter Wren
GC Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
YR Warbler 1 bird only
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow Many in the grass fields, easily flushed.
Song Sparrow
WC Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco Only 2 birds
RWBB
Brewer's BB
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Well, for those of you that have survived this etraordinarily long post,
my congratz, and remember the many backbenchers that learn the
potentials from posts such as these.

Good birding,

Ken and Kris Klimko
Richmond BC