On Sat, 17 Jan 1998, Robert Taylor wrote:

> Took some east Washingtonians to Luhr Beach to look across at Nisqually
> Delta ----- a couple of hundred Brant were present inspite of the hunting
> taking place, also a coule of juvenile Bald Eagles...

I ran out to Luhr Beach. Duck hunting season is over. Luhr Beach is an
excellent place to go birding. You get a good view of the Nisqually
estuary. If you want shelter, the Interpretive Center is open on
most (all?) weekend days and has a great set of big windows looking
out over the estuary.

I counted 65 Brant. I would really like to document this as a
significant Brant wintering locality. Sixty-five isn't bad but
if anybody is there and counts more than that in the next few weeks,
please post a message to me or Tweeters so I can go take a look.

There were plenty of Wigeons, Gadwall, Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted
Mergansers, a male Belted Kingfisher, 6 Bald Eagles (3 ads & 3 subads),
Western Grebes, Double-crested Cormorants, White-winged and Surf Scoters,
Buffleheads, Northern Harrier, and much, much more. Great views of Common
Goldeneye eating shore crab. Bald Eagle with prey, being chased by another
Bald Eagle and dropping prey 50 feet to water's surface.

Good Fun.

> The hunters were taking Lesser Scaup, Wigeon, Mallards. The folks keeping
> records also mentioned that one of the Scaup seen earlier did not have
> green or blue iridescence but a dark red.

A dark red iridescence or just dark red? Did they consider Redhead? I have
only seen one Redhead in western Washington. When I was a fledgling duck
hunter, my father used to like to tell me the story of the beautiful male
Redhead he killed on the Nisqually Flats when he was a youngster. I
held the Redhead in high regard for many years because it took many years
for me to finally see one. Until that time all I had was my father's story
and the pictures in the books. I would appreciate hearing people's sightings
of Redheads in western Washington (western B.C.?, western Oregon?).

Check out Luhr Beach.

Kelly McAllister