hello tweetsters.

two of my non-birding friends wanted to help me celebrate
spring vacation, and so we drove around parts of snohomish
county today, so i could introduce them to birding. we
ended up seeing 43 species despite the cold, blustery weather.
some of the highlights of our journey included harlequin
ducks, seen off sammish island; greater yellowlegs, seen
wading in a flooded pasture on fir island; and tundra and
trumpeter swans, seen in several groups on fir island. (one
group was comprised exclusively of adult and juvenile tundra
swans (33), and another, much larger group that i estimated
to be about 300-350 birds, was comprised of tundra and a
smaller number of trumpeter swans. another group of five
swans, which included two juveniles, was too distant to make
a positive species ID.)

we also had the great good fortune to see the largest
flock of snow geese that any of us has ever seen in one
place. this massive flock of geese was visible from probably
a mile away and covered several pastures on both sides
of fir island drive. we stopped at the pasture at the junction
of fir island drive and one-hundred-and-something-or-other
for a closer look. this massive flock of snow geese covered
several pastures on both sides of the road, and many geese
flew to-and-fro over our heads in a honking blizzard while
we watched in awe. i guesstimated the total number of geese
to be between 8,000-10,000 individuals.

some surprises included the absence of any sightings of the
merganser species, northern shovelers, and the wrens. of course,
they all could have been hunkered down out of sight, avoiding
the wind and rain and cold.

our bird list follows, if anyone is interested;

winter-plumage pacific loon (1)
pied-billed grebe
double-crested cormorant
great blue heron, all in nuptial plumage
tundra swan, ~350-380
trumpeter swan, ~30-50
snow geese, 8000-10,000
canada geese
mallard
gadwall
american green-winged teal, about 100 (total)
american wigeon, several hundreds (total)
northern pintail
ring-necked duck
surf scoter
harlequin duck, 3 males, 2 females
common goldeneye
bufflehead
american coot
killdeer, many dozens (total)
greater yellowlegs, 2
ring-billed gulls
herring gulls
glaucous-winged gulls
bald eagles, many dozens, both adult and juvenile plumage
northern harrier, 15-20 (total)
red-tailed hawk, many!
american kestrel, 1
rock dove
tree swallows
violet-green swallows
steller's jays
american crow
american robin
european starling
spotted towhee
song sparrow, many!
dark-eyed junco
white-crowned sparrow
red-winged blackbird
brewer's blackbirds, several large flocks
house (english) sparrow
house finch

Deborah Wisti-Peterson email:nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~nyneve/
<><><>Graduate School: it's not just a job, it's an indenture!<><><>