Hi everyone! On Sunday I went on the field trip led by Jim Flynn. The other
great birders that went along were Carol Schulz, Fred Boeche (sp.?), Kirk
Scarborough, and Thais Bock. My dad didn't make it. We had a great trip with
only a few showers and no thunder. First we went to the Two Rivers NWR near
Monroe. On the way there we saw lots of RED-TAILED HAWKS, and a few BALD
EAGLES but we didn't see anything that could have been a Golden Eagle. When
we arrived we saw some RING-NECKED DUCKS, and lots of AM. COOTS. We walked a
while, not seeing anything other than SONG SPARROWS and RUBY-CROWNED
KINGLETS. Then I heard a singing WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, but didn't see it.
Then a PILEATED WOODPECKER was heard by Jim and me. In a few minutes, he flew
to a nearby dead tree. When we went farther out in a wet soggy field we saw
some BC CHICKADEES and male a female WOOD DUCKS flew over head for my first
year bird of the trip! I heard a COMMON RAVEN and sure enough in a few
minutes, two of them flew over. We went to the North field, hearing some
singing WINTER WRENS. Then I spotted a TREE SWALLOW flying around and landing
on a dead tree. There were actually two Tree Swallows at this time, with one
of them singing. They were a year bird for some of the people on the trip but
not me. Fred and Jim saw some sparrows, one of them being a SWAMP SPARROW, a
lifer for me. We also found some LINCOLN'S SPARROWS, as many as 5 of them. We
did not find the Harris' Sparrow, or any other sparrow of note. When I looked
up I now saw 6 TREE SWALLOWS circling above us! I also spotted a probable
COOPER'S HAWK up in a tree. Then we left Two Rivers and did some birding in
other areas.
We saw some NORTHERN HARRIERS, 3 females and a male. On the side of the
road we saw some swans. I was praying that they were Trumpeters. We got out
and discovered that they were about 40 TRUMPETER SWANS, another lifer for me!
We went to a different area where there were some large piles of stinky
"silage" on the side of the road. Out in the field when we climbed a small
hill we found more Trumpeters but nothing else of note in the fields, beside
an adult and an imm. BALD EAGLE making their "Kilick Kilicki Ki" calls from a
perch. We headed down the railroad track and down a ditch, finding some SONG,
WHITE-CROWNED and GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS. Then we were on the road again,
heading to get better looks at the many swans we had seen. We parked near the
swans and scanned them, finding 77 swans in all. Jim did a rough count of the
TUNDRA SWANS and got somewhere near 30 of them. Kirk Scarborough spotted a
third lifer for me, a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE out with the flock of swans
of all things. All in all a great trip and I thank Jim Flynn and Carol Schulz
for letting me come along! Good Birding!

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Birdking88 at aol.com
Charlie W. Wright
Sumner, WA
Age 11