Hi gang
Yvonne Bombadier and I birded Spencer Island on Saturday morning with a SAS
field trip. It was pretty foggy from 8:30 - noon but we did see 2
Franklin's Gulls on the treatment ponds with a bunch of Northern Shovelers.
The Virginia Rails were vocalizing throughout the morning. We heard at least
4 birds. The tide was high so we saw no shorebirds except Killdeer and a
couple of unidentified peeps flying high. We had a great look at a Coopers
Hawk. It appeared to be an adult bird but it still had the yellow eyes. The
swallows were starting to stage (we saw probably around 500-1000 Barn
Swallows) but there weren't as many as were reported by Ed last night. A
couple Vaux's Swifts were flying around too. We flushed 2 American Bitterns
which were great to see so close. The marsh had an array of ducks mostly
American Wigeon, some Northern Shoveler, Hooded Mergansers and a couple
Northern Pintail. There was a large flock of Evening Grosbeaks on the
eastern side of the marsh mixed in with pairs of Western Tanagers,Hairy and
Downy Woodpeckers. Lincoln's Sparrows were around in good numbers too.

Tracee Geernaert
International Pacific Halibut Commission
PO Box 95009
Seattle, WA 98145-2009
206: 634-1838 ext 208
http://www.iphc.washington.edu:80/pages/iphc/staff/tracee/tracee.htm