The Washington BirdBox is a voice mailbox sponsored by the Washington
Ornithological Society. To leave messages about a notable sighting, or to
listen to messages from the last seven days, call (425) 454-2662 and follow
the prompts. Hal Opperman, system administrator, personal phone (425)
635-0503. Transcribed by Bob Norton. Please contact me at (360) 928-3053 or
at norton360 at aol.com if you have any corrections, comments, or questions.

[In preparing to transcribe the BIRDBOX, I find that for at least
some of the messages, one day too early is given. I will give the date that I
think is accurate in the transcription but it may be a day early or a day
late. I have asked Hal Opperman to check the machine. BN]

Previously checked May 2, 1999 by Christy Anderson.

Tuesday, May 4, 7:37, PM. Hello, this is Michael Hobbs (425)
869-2370. Today I did a trip through Grays Harbor and Pacific County. The
best sightings were at Westport in the marina itself. There were 8
FORK-TAILED STORM PETRELS and I could actually walk right down to the end of
the dock and sit there and have STORM PETRELS within three feet of me. There
was a man in a boat there who said they had been there for a couple of days.
Also at the Bay City Bridge just east of Westport, there was a GREAT EGRET.
You can see it from Brady's Oysters. I parked there and could see it with my
scope. At Bowerman along with 100's of thousands or 10's of thousands of
shorebirds there were 2 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS and at the sewage lagoons
there were about 50 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES.

Wednesday, May 5, 9:04 AM. This is Vic Nelson. Today at Point No
Point Resort at the northeast tip of the Kitsap Peninsula, I saw a VESPER
SPARROW in the back along the road by the trailer park. This is an unusual
Kitsap bird. Thank you, good-bye.

Wednesday, May 5, 12:33 PM. Hi, this is Steve Mlodinow. I went out to
the Skagit Game Range and down to the Stillaguamish Delta today. On the Game
Range the highlight was an immature WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. Park at the Boat
Launch Parking Lot and it is about a three quarters of the way to end of that
dike. It was actually feeding on the dike itself in the company of a couple
of GOLDEN-CROWNS and a LINCOLN'S SPARROW. I think the bird is probably a
migrant, not an overwintering bird. Impressively, a large percentage of the
waterfowl cleared out of both the Skagit and Stillaguamish Deltas over the
last few days. Also most of the shorebirds that were around in the
Stillaguamish Delta on Saturday were not present today. That's true for the
thousand or more GULLS that were present in the Stillaguamish Delta for the
past month or so. There was one HERRING GULL on the Stillaguamish Delta off
of 36. At the Game Range there were some WARBLER migrants around including
several YELLOW WARBLERS and my first WILSON'S WARBLER of the spring. That's
it. Good luck and good birding.

Thursday, May 6, 12:01 AM. Hi, Tom Aversa (206) 782-7342. Reporting
for a trip to Grays Harbor today. Good numbers of birds off the jetty at
Ocean Shores. About 800 SOOTY SHEARWATERS, there were 6 FORK-TAILED STORM
PETRELS really close, there were about 175 COMMON TERNS, 35 KITTIWAKES a
PARASITIC JAEGER and there were 3 TATTLERS on the jetty. There were 10 or 11
RED-NECKED PHALAROPES at Ocean Shores in addition to what I thought was about
100 birds at the Hoquiam Sewage Ponds where there was also 2 WHITE PELICANS
as you'll hear a couple of messages down the line. Also at Ocean Shores there
was a HORNED LARK at Dana Point which was not the breeding race, a migrant I
guess, one of the pallid races, albino or arcticola. There was a pair of RED
CROSSBILLS down low in some deciduous vegetation on Ocean Shores, kind of
unusual. A SNOW GOOSE and a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE at Bottle Beach and
the Brady Loop Road had about 200 WHIMBREL and 50 BONAPARTE'S GULLS feeding
in a field. The most common migrants I encountered today were probably
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS and GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS -- good numbers of both.

May 6, 9:44 PM. Hello, this is Dave Beaudette, (206) 365-2083. On May
6, I birded Skagit County. A flock of 15 YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS were seen
in the pasture along Sammish Island Road about half a mile north of the west
90 and a MARBLED GODWIT was seen along the west shoreline of Padilla Bay. The
bird was seen from a pullout along the March Point Road just north of the
junction with the south March Point Road. Good birding.

Friday, May 7, 2:59 PM. Hello, this is Mike Weil, 868-4679. Birding
with Michael Manning in the Snoqualmie Valley near Carnation, taking the
Carnation Farms Road out toward Carnation, as you stop at Sikes Lake, if you
look at the foliage around Sikes Lake we had 3 AMERICAN BITTERNS including
one calling. This afternoon as you progress down Carnation on Carnation Farms
Road there is a Carnation Pond on the left. and there is a GREATER YELLOWLEGS
there. If you continue across the bridge and make your first left right after
you cross the bridge along the ripariian habitat there we had a RED-EYED
VIREO and a NASHVILLE WARBLER. Thank you and good birding.

Saturday, May 8, 7:39 AM. Hello, this Wayne Weber reporting from
Vancouver, B.C. On May 7, the BLACK-NECKED STILT which has been present for
almost a week at the Iona Island Sewage Pond was still there. There were a
small number of other shorebirds, it was low tide, but several species
including about a half dozen LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS. Also there was a WESTERN
KINGBIRD which is quite rare locally on the airport fence along Ferguson Road
on the way to Iona Island, along Ferguson Road just west of Shannon Road. For
further details please phone the Vancouver Rare Bird Alert at (604) 737-3074.
That's it for now.

May 8, 8:27 AM. This is Vic Nelson. Today at Point No Point on the
northeast tip of the Kitsap Peninsula there were 2 male YELLOW-HEADED
BLACKBIRDS. These birds were also present yesterday. There is also a report
of 3 female YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS in the area this morning. I also had a
WESTERN KINGBIRD this morning, RED CROSSBILL, 2 VIRGINIA RAILS calling in the
marsh across the street from the resort and about 80 to 100 YELLOW-RUMPED
WARBLERS, 6 or 8 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, several WILSON'S and several COMMON
YELLOWTHROATS along the road just to the left of the resort down towards the
lighthouse. In addition to that there is a SPOTTED SANDPIPER on the big rocks
south of the lighthouse. And that's about it. Thank you. Good Bye.

May 8, 5:58 PM. Hi, this is Stephen Mlodinow. Steve Pink and I just
looked at a bird that had several traits of a RED-FACED CORMORANT including a
yellow bill, extensive red on the face and dull brownish wings or at least
contrastingly brownish wings. This bird is near the mouth of the Elwha River,
just east of the mouth of the Elwha River. To get there take Lower Elwha
River Road to Charles Road, make a right on Charles and take it to where it
ends. This is tribal property. There's signs that going on the beach is
restricted to tribal members but we were actually looking from the parking
area. I'm not clear that this is really legit, so the possibility of getting
kicked out is certainly there. We watched the bird for an hour and a half
between 5 and 6:30, at times as close as a 100 yards, mostly in bright
sunlight. I have to look at some resources before we're willing to call this
anything but it is a bird that definitely bears looking at. On a much more
mundane basis, we had a RED KNOT on the tidal flats by the 3 Crabs, at the
Oyster House that's not far from the 3 Crabs, we had a PARASITIC JAEGER and
an EURASIAN WIGEON and a BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE at the same spot that the
cormorant was at. That's it, good luck and good birding.

May 8, 7:12 PM. Hi, this is Sam Terry (206) 329-9038. I went birding
today in Snohomish and Skagit Counties. The highlight was a WILSON'S
PHALAROPE north of Silvana along 28th. It was on the first pond on the left
as you're going north on 28th from Northern Road. Further north on 28th there
were several WHIMBRELS in a field on the right. At the Skagit Game Range
there were still a few LINCOLN'S SPARROWS around. There was a pair of
CINNAMON TEAL on the Stanwood Sewage Pond and also a pair on the Ebey Island
Pond on Homecker's Road. That's it. Good luck and good birding.

May 8, 9:31 PM. Hello, this is Scott Atkinson. A boat trip out of
Neah Bay today had a few interesting birds. Thirty-seven FORK-TAILED STORM
PETRELS were seen. Interestingly, 15 to 20 of them were right in the harbor
at Neah Bay. There was also a LEACH'S STORM PETREL near the harbor and
another was out on shore. Another good bird was a second winter GLAUCOUS GULL
seen at Tatoosh Island. Otherwise, a good mix of tubenoses and pelagics not
on shore but nothing out of the ordinary. That's all.

Sunday, May 9, 9:08 AM. Hello, this is Dave Beaudette (206) 365-2083.
On May 8th, on the Migratory Big Day with Keith Wiggers and others birded
these areas of Skagit County which are south of Washington 20 from Burlington
eastwards. Two CHIPPING SPARROWS were around 21636 Lafayette Road east of
Burlington. Six BLACK SWIFTS were along Third Street near Morris Road, that
is south of Sedro Woolley and at a pond on the south side of Conkerham (?)
Road southeast of Lyman was a SOLITARY SANDPIPER and at the ponds on the
north side of the Lyman-Hamilton Highway in the vicinity of where it
intersects Conkerham Road (the eastern intersection) were 2 LESSER YELLOWLEGS
and one WILSON'S PHALAROPE and flycatching over the Lyman-Hamilton Highway in
this vicinity was a LEWIS' WOODPECKER. A WESTERN KINGBIRD was north of
Washington 20 east of Helmick (?) Road, that is east of Sedro Woolley and 6
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS were in a cow pasture on the north side of Burmaster
Road east of Sedro Woolley. Good birding.

May 9, 11:49 AM. Hi, this is Scott Downes 361-7073. This morning I
had a few good birds near Snoqualmie Pass. Most of which were off of exit 38.
Just inside the gate going to the Fire Training Academy, it was in the first
mile of the road there, I had a huge warbler flock which had 30 to 35
HERMITxTOWNSEND'S WARBLER hybrids. I saw one MACGILLIVRAY'S, a couple of
WILSON'S WARBLERS, one male NASHVILLE WARBLER, a lot of other BLACK-THROATED
GRAY'S and I also had a PYGMY OWL in the area. Yesterday at Rattlesnake Lake
I had WARBLING VIREO. For the first time in King County this year I had
HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHERS and a HERMITxTOWNSEND'S WARBLER and a pair of
TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRES. That's it. Good luck and good birding.

May 9, 8:19 PM. Hi, this is Stephen Mlodinow. Today Steve Pink and I
birded the Ocean Shores, Westport and Tokeland area. Highlights are mostly at
the Westport Marina where we had 5 BROWN PELICANS, a CLARK'S GREBE and a
dozen or so FORK-TAILED STORM PETRELS inside the Marina approaching very
closely. Also near Brady there was a PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER. This was along
Foster Road in a plowed field. Foster Road goes between Montesano-Brady Road
and Brady Loop Road. The Golden Plover was with a group of BLACK-BELLIES and
a number of RUDDY TURNSTONES. Along the beach between Ocean Shores and Ocean
City there was an enormous number of birds totaling about 55,000 shorebirds,
most of which were WESTERN SANDPIPERS and DUNLINS and also included in that
number were about 1200 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS. At the golf course at Ocean
Shores at high tide early in the morning, there were about 35 MARBLED GODWIT.
That's about it. Good luck and good birding.

Monday, May 10, 6:21 AM. Hi, this is Stephen Mlodinow again. Steve
Pink and I have had an opportunity to look at a number of references and do
indeed feel that the bird that we saw was a RED-FACED CORMORANT. Its
appearance was extremely similar to a bird photographed in Alaska in June in
the Complete Reference Guide to Seabirds of the World by Pendicott (?) &
Piping (?), this would be photograph 4 for those of you lucky enough to have
this reference also photograph number 5 shows some birds that were in some
ways similar as well though the birds in that photo have less red on the face
and duller red than the bird we saw. That's about it, good luck and good
birding. Oh, one more thing, the area that we viewed the bird from is of
dubious legality to be present at. It's not again clear. You're not to be on
the beach, it's not clear about the parking lot and I would probably look
elsewhere nearby rather than go to that specific location. Bob Norton was not
able to find the bird yesterday [actually Saturday, May 8. Bob Norton]. Good
luck and good birding.

May 10, 11:03 AM. Hi, Tom Aversa, 782-7342. reporting for today. I
had a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW migrant right here in Woodland Park this morning
along with a good numbers of migrants including EVENING GROSBEAK, HAMMOND'S
and PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS. Nothing else too interesting.

BIRDBOX last checked May 10, about noon.