Subject: Columbia Estuary Report - 3/15/98
Date: Mar 15 14:56:40 1998
From: Mike Patterson - mpatters at orednet.org




Columbia Estuary Report - 3/15/98

VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS appeared around my house last week and
immediately started checking out nestboxes. The first female
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD willing to stand still long enough to be
confirmed as such this morning.

A SAVANNA SPARROW was singing along Wireless Rd this morning. The
half-hearted effort leads me to believe it may be a winter hold
over rather than new arrival. Eleven WHITE-FRONTED GEESE were
also along Wireless Rd. There are many CANADA GEESE in the same
area including 3 hanging out together with white heads. The
vote is split between those who blame leucism (partial albinism)
and those who question the parentage of this obvious family group.

I spent 20 minutes doing a seawatch from the SJCR viewing platform
this morning. Visibility started out poor (about 300 meters)
quickly degenerated. The results follow:

Seawatch South Jetty of the Columbia River
3/15/98 0900-0920
Wind sw 10
overcast with intermittent light drizzle

beach ocean flyover total
Red-necked Grebe 1 1
Mallard 4 4
Surf Scoter 30 8 38
Western Gull 1 12 13
Glaucous-winged Gull 2 2
Bonapart's Gull 1 1
Black-legged Kittiwake 1 1



--
*********************************
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * 2000 mockingbirds = 2 kilomockingbirds
* mpatters at orednet.org *
http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters