Tweets,

Just some general comments about the past ten days.

I've seen only one message about the Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival, so I
thought I would add that I thought it was extremely well run, even if the
shorebirds really did not cooperate. The Hoquim High School was a good
central location. The leaders on the two tours Susan and I went on were
outstanding, humorous, knowledgeable, patient, able to discuss birds with
observers of all skill levels. The shorebird ID session had good slides and
presentation.

The numbers were not high. The weather warmed up over the weekend, coming
from the south, so I expect large numbers arrived just after the weekend. We
saw only the expected species (except for the white pelicans), but that was
fine. On the Friday tour of Ocean Shores a Bald Eagle glided over a flock of
Western Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plover, Dunlin, Dowitchers, Marbled Godwits,
allowing a good demonstration of the shorebirds more-leisurely flights when
they really do not expect to get devoured. Only merlin of the weekend made
just a brief appearance on Saturday at Bowerman Basin, didn't even stay to
harass the shorebirds.

We stayed in Ocean Shores, where walks along the beach provided the best
birding, both in variety and numbers. Only place where we saw Sanderling
still hanging around.

Never did hear how the bird race went, who saw the most species, or how many.
Does anyone else know?

Also saw a baby seal stranded on the beach, with the tide coming in, so expect
it made it OK so long as its mother was still around. Looked like it still
had part of the umbilical cord attached. Could see marks in the sand where it
struggled to move. Acted like it wanted to come to us, so we left hoping it
would get back into the water. Saw a dead baby seal on the beach at the
jetty. Also had good looks at whales just off the jetty on Sunday.

Back in Burien, our home last weekend was a good as I have seen it. Had a
white-throated sparrow Friday, seen at the feeder and then singing all around
for several hours. The white- and golden-crowneds arrived at the feeder as
well. The back half of the center stripe on the head of one golden-crowned
was absolutely a pure white, which I had never seen before. Had three orange-
crowned warblers in our small yard at one time, and an Audubon's in a
neighbors tree. A Bewick's wren was singing a variety of songs all around the
area. A female hummingbird checked out some fir trees. A Hermit thrush
scratched around the underbrush under some madrona. A ruby-crowned kinglet
flitted through the hazelnut bushes. A pair of Western Tanagers showed up,
the first of the year as well. Plus the usual flicker, towhee, bushtits,
robins, house finches, starlings, even a house sparrow.

A quick trip to the Black River Slough in Renton showed the GB Heron rookery
in fine form. Also saw several Rufous Hummingbirds, three male and one female
Wood Ducks, Canada Geese, Gadwall (with young), Mallards (also with young),
Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, one male and three female Bufflehead, a pair of
Hooded Mergansers, one Coot, and two Killdeer.

Lastly, an odd goose was guarding several young in the bushes on the far side
of the slough just west of the heron rookery. The goose had a dark bill,
white on the side of the face from the bill back to behind the eye and on the
top of the head, except where a streak of dark brown came up from the back of
the neck. The throat and front of the neck were dark black with flecks of
white. The back of the neck and back were dark to average brown. Underneath
was white. My guess is that it is some sort of domestic that has escaped and
survived in the wild, or maybe a Canada hybred with such an escapee.

Spring is wonderful.

Eric Stahlfeld
Burien, WA