Tweeters and Vancouver Birders,

OK, you guys in Washington. Just because you couldn't find my 3
Whooper Swans from Mamit Lake when they (presumably) flew over your
state last fall-- and just because the species isn't on your state
list-- there is no need to try to turn an obviously captive Whooper
Swan into a wild bird! ;-) ;-) ;-)

Not to knock Washington-- it's a great state for birding-- but why
not admit that there are some species on the B.C. list that may NEVER
turn up in Washington, no matter how close to the border they were
seen?

Dusky Thrush in Langley, Rock Ptarmigan in White Rock, Far Eastern
Curlew at Boundary Bay, Spoonbill Sandpiper and Common Eider at Iona
Island, Terek Sandpiper at Sooke come to mind..... (Taunt, taunt!)

The Little Blue Heron seen in 1974 at Judson Lake near Abbotsford also
comes to mind. (Judson Lake straddles the International Border.)
Although it was eventually seen on both sides of the border, the day I
came to see it, it stayed firmly planted on the Canadian side of the
lake, much to the chagrin of a gaggle of Washington birders who wanted
it for their state list! Gene will remember that bird, because he and
I co-wrote an article for Western Birds about it. (First record for
both BC and WA.)

Or maybe my teasing is just sour grapes, because I twice narrowly
missed the Eurasian Kestrel at Samish Flats (once by only 5 minutes!!)
and didn't have time to chase the Dotterel at Ocean Shores.

Seriously, I am sure that a genuine wild Whooper Swan will turn up
eventually in Washington, but this one doesn't sound like it.

Wayne Weber
Kamloops, B.C.
wayne_weber at bc.sympatico.ca



-----Original Message-----
From: ENHunn at aol.com <ENHunn at aol.com>
To: sendtomichael at hotmail.com <sendtomichael at hotmail.com>;
tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, April 17, 2000 7:08 AM
Subject: Re: WHOOPER SWAN IN ORTING


>Greetings tweets (from Gene Hunn ENHunn at aol.com)
>
>Never having seen a Whooper Swan, I decided to run down to Orting
yesterday
>evening to check it out. It was there, at 7 PM, on the High Cedars
golf club
>(turn right off SR 162 onto 149th St. Ct. E just north of Orting,
about 5
>miles south of 410), right where Michael left it, grazing with a few
Canada
>Geese and some mixed domestics. It was alert but quite tame, dipping
in th
>pond for a swim and drifting over to our side to check us out. No
bands and
>apparently wings not clipped. If it did get here under its own power,
it
>could be one of those Wayne Weber reported last fall, now heading
back north.
>There was one seen briefly last spring (I don't recall the dates) in
the
>Willamette Valley.
>
>In any case, it is a beautiful adult Whooper, a bit smaller I would
judge
>than a Trumpeter, with a deep, straight "nose" 2/3 butter yellow,
which
>angles forward to cup the nostril above and below. The black of the
bill tip
>extends along the culmen ridge to a squared-off area 2/3 of the way
back
>(here a picture would be worth 1000 words). Just as illustrated in
Waterfowl:
>An Identification Guide to the Ducks, Geese and Swans of the World by
Steve
>Madge and Hilary Burn, pg. 156. The yellow of the bill is highlighted
by a
>long black grin that curls up slightly ("ironically"?) at the base of
the
>mandible. The underside of the bill is also mostly yellow, in a
central "U,"
>outlined in black, which you can see as it dips its bill or raises it
to
>drink. It called softly several times. A "whoop" or double "whoop,"
higher
>pitched than a Trumpeter. An elegant bird.
>
>Gene
>