Tweets,
Ryan Shaw and I spent the day birding Grays Harbor Co. from Ocean Shores to
the Brady area. Below are a few of the highlidghts:

2 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE with 2 CACKLING CANADA GEESE at the Ocean
Shores STP.

Flock of 20-25 Cacklers flying over the ocean shores game range.

Relocated the female REDHEAD on the Damon Pt. Pond.

Large numbers of CASPIAN TERNS at the Ocean Shores marina, 30-35.

Witnessed a fallout of sorts early morning at the Pt. BRown jetty. Watched
various sparrows and at least 3 VARIED THRUSHES (2f, 1m) flying in from the
ocean and moving up the jetty.
Most were FOX SPARROW (19), of these only one was a fuliginosa, the other 18
were as far as I could tell all altivagans (the rufous contrasting tail with
the drabness of the back was fairly obvious). There were also 4 SAVANNA
SPARROW and 2 SONG SPARROWS, but these are not all that uncommon on the jetty.
It was really amazing to see a dark spot in the sky suddenly turn into a
VARIED THRUSH and light on the jetty in front of you!

Though not a lot of swallows we got all five sp. with 3 CLIFF SWALLOWS flying
over the Hoquiam STP, 1 BARN SWALLOW at the Ocean Shores STP, several on
Brady Loop Rd. N.ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS evident at BLack Lake Meadows in
Olympia and Showieler (sp?) Wildlife Area.

To end the day we ran onto Patrick and Ruth Sullivan and birded the Lacey
Clearcut where Patrick found a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE which perched to allow
great looks.
All told a great day with great weather.

Scott Downes
sgd24 at aol.com
Seattle WA

To identify a species should not be enough to quench one's thirst,
a proper thirst must seek to understand every facet of the bird's
existence.