Tweets,

Like Scott, I too looked for the Lewis's Woodpecker at Seward Park on the
16th and found just the Spotted Sandpiper. Today (the 17th) I headed north
for the Skagit and Samish flats via Spencer I. and Stanwood. Finally, I
achieved that holy grail, the five falcon day! My last and most difficult
proved to be the American Kestrel which I at last located on Viewridge east
of Bayview about 2:30 PM after the weather had turned hard against me. The
five falcons added up to an 11 raptor species day: Bald Eagle (8), Northern
Harrier (7), Sharp-shinned Hawk (1), Cooper's Hawk (1), Red-tailed Hawk
(10), Rough-legged Hawk (2), American Kestrel (1), Merlin (2), Peregrine (1,
chasing a Prairie Falcon along the beach at the Boe Rd. access south of
Stanwood), Prairie Falcon (1), Gyrfalcon (2; together east of La Conner, a
dark female and a gray male). A Short-eared Owl popped out of the reeds at
Spencer Is.; I counted about 700 swans of both species in a single flock on
Fir Island just opposite the Wylie Rd turnoff. Mourning Doves (10) near
Stanwood at what seems a regular wintering concentration; 1 White-throated
Sparrow at the Skagit WRA (presumably the same one as previously reported,
just west of the boat launch parking lot along the hedgerow at the first
foot bridge; 10 Savannah Sparrows near Stanwood. Not a bad day until about
1:30 PM.

Gene Hunn.