After spending four hours passing out coffee at the Smokey Point rest
area my Pilchuck Audubon Society friend Nancy and I went up to the
Portage Creek Sanctuary for some evening birding, roughly from 6:30 to
9PM. It's a very nice area and worth a stop if you're near Arlington.
Gene Ammon was there and gave us a guided tour. The Cedar Waxwings were
almost as numerous as the Red-winged Blackbirds, they both seemed to be
everywhere, as were the Violet Green, Tree and Barn Swallows. Several
Virginia Rails were heard very close to the trail, we must have been no
more than four feet from them but we never saw them. The other
highlights were the big and small, a Northern Harrier hunting fairly
close to a pair of perched Red-winged Hawks while a Marsh Wren posed
perfectly for us on top of a dried cattail. We could hear Marsh Wrens
frequently, but only this one deigned to show himself. A male Rufous
Hummingbird also posed nicely.

I'm forgetting a lot, I'm sure, but it was so nice to be out there
listening to the wonderful cacophony of birds and frogs.

Cliff Drake
Ballard-Seattle