Hi All,
First I want to say I didn't know Jim Lyle but I was already starting to look
forward to his next posts and I am very sorry to hear of his passing.

A while back I posted an extinct list for King County which included Chipping
Sparrow. This morning I was up on the Sammamish Plateau by Sahalee and saw
one coming to a backyard feeder. They seemed to be singing on territory in
that neighborhood. That combined with Michael Dossett's sightings of them in
Shoreview Park make me wonder if I wasn't jumping the gun putting that bird on
the list.

In the afternoon I birded Lake Samamish State Park, just north of Issaquah,
and the highlights were lots of Yellow Rumped Warblers, good numbers of Orange
Crowned Warblers and singing Yellowthroats, Rufous Hummingbirds, a Warbling
Vireo, two Water Pipits, a Killdeer, a Spotted Sandpiper, a Raven, and
Great Blues at the heronry who thought the Bald Eagle should actually be on
the "lowlights" list.

I also got a glimpse of a Belted Kingfisher. Am I the only one who is annoyed
about how skittish this bird is? In my opinion it is the most skittish bird
around here, and why would that be? Some people think skittishness is a
genetic trait, but I grew up around crows that would fly at 400 feet and now
live around crows that don't even fly when I gesture at them. (I could make a
similar statement about Pileated Woodpeckers, but I never gesture at them) I
seriously wonder if fish hatchery managers are in the Kingfisher-shooting
business (!?!)

Here on Beacon the Orange Crowned Warblers are in, and a neighbor's eastern
Maple is full of Yellow Rumps like it always seems to be for a couple weeks in
migration, a large flock of Vaux's Swifts (maybe 20) flew over two days ago,
and 2 Band Tails were flying over the western greenbelt today, and the frogs
are still optimistically croaking.

--Ed Newbold, Tweeter by Digest, Beacon Hill Seattle,
newboldwildlife at netscape.net




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