Subject: Lazuli Buntings in King County
Date: Jun 14 09:11:55 1999
From: Jim Elder - JElder at sea-dmi.com


I was surprised yesterday (Sunday) to find Lazuli Buntings in King County.
I saw one singing male and heard at least one other singing simultaneously
a couple hundred yards away across a field on the other side of the road.
This was in South Kent along 78th Ave a bit north of 277th St S in the
Green River Valley. This is privately owned agricultural land. The bird
that I saw acted as if it was establishing or defending a territory as it
flew from corner to corner of a weedy field and sang continuously for the
half hour or so that I was there. I have never been in this area before
and maybe I was just lucky to catch a couple stray birds passing through
but perhaps there is a small, unknown (at least to me) breeding population
in King County.

Jim Elder ( jelder at sea-dmi.com )
SEA Inc.
7030 220th St. SW
Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043