The Washington BirdBox is a voice mailbox sponsored by the Washington
Ornithological Society. To leave a report about a notable sighting or
to listen to the most recent reports from other birders, call
(425)454-2662 and follow the prompts.
Transcribed by Chris Hill, Everett, Washington,
cehill at u.washington.edu, phone (425) 258-3680 evenings. Please contact
me by e-mail if you have any corrections, comments, or questions.
Mailbox previously checked on Sunday, October 4, at 7 p.m.

10/12/98, 5:56a.m. Hi, this is Dave Beaudette, 206.365.2083. I went
birding Saturday and Sunday Oct. 10-11 in the Cascades in the southeast
corner of King County. This area can be reached by going East from
Greenwater on State Rt. 410 for about a mile and a half to Forest Road 70.
Go up Forest Road 70 for about 16 miles to reach the high country. On
Saturday, a LAPLAND LONGSPUR was seen well on the edge of Forest Road 70
just east of Forest Service Road 7080, elevation here about 4600 ft. From
the junction with 7080, go east on FS road 70 about 1/2 mile to FS road
260. Walk up 260 about 1/3 mile to Natches Trail 1175. Walk up Natches
trail that is to the East for about 1/4 mile into the old growth pacific
silver fir forest. A BOREAL OWL was heard calling here on Saturday
Morning at elevations ranging between 4700 and 5000 ft. Also in this area
was a calling NORTHERN PYGMY OWL. That's all for now.

Sunday 10/11/98, 11:38 a.m. Hi, this is Steve Mlodinow. This morning
Dennis Duffy and I birded the Everett Sewage Ponds. We had 10 FRANKLIN'S
GULLS, 1 EARED GREBE, approximately 1200 RUDDY DUCKS, and A SWAMP SPARROW.
The SWAMP SPARROW was in the wet grass just east of the east dike. That's
it - good luck and good birding.

Saturday, 10/10/98. 4:04 p.m. Hi this is Steve Mlodinow. Kevin Aanerud
and I birded Discovery Park today. Had a GOSHAWK, a JAEGER, likely
PARASITIC, and 2 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS. That's it, good luck and good
birding.

Saturday, 10/10/98. 2:59 p.m. Hello, this is Rick Romea, 206.523.5831.
This morning at the Kent Ponds, SW corner, in the little parking area by
the nursery building, we had many LINCOLNS & FOX SPARROWS, a juvenile
HARRIS'S SPARROW, A BARN OWL, and several WHITE FRONTED GEESE. The BARN
OWL seems to be living in the red barn that's very near the area and was
flying from the barn to the large cottonwood trees in the center of the
marsh. That's it.

Wednesday, 10/7/98, 7:02 p.m. Good evening, this is Brian Bell,
425.485.8058. Today, Steve Gersel (sp?) and I birded up to the Sequim
area. We had loads of COMMON & PACIFIC LOONS, and RED-THROATED [sic] AND
HORNED GREBES. At the Three Crabs in Dungeness, we had excellent looks at
an immature MERLIN, and an immature COOPER'S HAWK. At the John Wayne
marina we had excellent close looks at a PARASITIC JAEGER just north of
the marina proper. We had another PARASITIC JAEGER at Shine Tidelands
State Park. Between 5 and 5:15 p.m., when the ferry left, we had
excellent looks at 2 PARASITIC JAEGERS harassing COMMON TERNS, and
excellent looks also at a LONG-TAILED JAEGER passing through, which hung
around for at least 5 to 6 minutes. That's all. Good birding

Tuesday, 10/6/98, 6:56 p.m. This is Bob Morse from Olympia, with a report
from the ocean beaches for tuesday. The BAR-TAILED GODWIT continues to
be seen at the breakwater at the Tokeland Marina at high tide. Along with
287 MARBLED GODWITS, 21 WILLETS, a dozen DOWITCHERS and a handful of
LONG-BILLED CURLEWS. Off the Westport jetty, a MARBLED MURRELET, A COMMON
MURRE, and over 250 BROWN PELICANS sought protection from the wind on the
breakwater behind the Coast Guard Station in Westport. At the Ocean
Shores jetty were ROCK SANDPIPER, WANDERING TATTLER, SURFBIRDS, BLACK
TURNSTONES AND 2 WHITE PELICANS continue to be seen near Bill's Spit in
Ocean Shores.

Tuesday, 10/6, 4:16 p.m. Hi, this is Stuart Wexler, 206.526.1980. Ten
minutes ago, at 4:06 p.m. I saw a flock of 40 TURKEY VULTURES heading
south over Montlake. They should be over Capitol Hill and the Central
area by now. That's it.

Tuesday, 10/6, 11:56 a.m. Hi, [name indistinct - ch] 723.4742 (Seattle),
This morning at 9 oclock off the west side of Alki Pt. in Seattle there
were 3 adult white phased PARASITIC JAEGERS harassing BONAPARTE'S GULLS
fairly close to the shore. That's it - good luck and good birding.

Monday, 10/5, 10:47 p.m. Hi, this is Jim Flynn at 206.772.5568. I'm
passing on a second hand report that was on Tweeters. George Gerdts and
Nigel Ball reported a RUFF from the Three Crabs restaurant area. I
believe they said it was hanging out with some PECTORAL SANDPIPERS. Also,
a winter-plumaged YELLOW-BILLED LOON at the John Wayne Marina.

Monday, 10/5/98, 6:09p.m. Hi, this is Greg Toffic. Today I birded
Snohomish, Everett, and Edmonds. I had a few interesting birds, the
highlight being a FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL I saw at about 4:15 from the
Edmonds fishing pier. I watched it for about ten minutes, flying pretty
steadily southward. it eventually did light on the water next to another
bird of similar size, but by that time it was far enough away that I
couldn't tell if the second bird was also a fork-tailed. Other
interesting birds were: at Dagmar's Landing, a corn stubble field just
north of that there was a flock of 100 CANADA GEESE, a few CACKLING GEESE
in there, one with a nice narrow white neck band. At Spencer Island,
there was a drake EURASIAN WIGEON that wasn't quite in winter plumage yet.
It had a few brown contour feathers on the scapulars or secondary coverts
with buffy margins, and not that many clear flanks. Also, at Everett
Sewage Ponds, surprisingly few GULLS, fewer than 1000 mixed BONAPARTE'S &
MEW GULLS, and a few RING-BILLED and GLAUCOUS-WINGED. There were 2
FRANKLIN'S GULLS in there, and at one point there was an interesting
lineup of Bonies on the south wall, and one FRANKLIN'S GULL standing right
next to a LESSER YELLOWLEGS. The main pond itself was almost devoid of
dabblers. There were many SHOVELERS sitting atop the East Wall. I
haven't seen that before. And on the main pond, about 1200 RUDDY DUCKS.
Also there was an EARED GREBE.

Messages checked on Tuesday, 10/13/98 at 4 p.m.