Hello Tweets,

Today I birded during the mid-late afternoon at the Flett Basin Wetland,
north of the Mountain View Cemetery, accessed off of Steilacoom Blvd., in
Lakewood(south of Tacoma). The area is surrounded by a large, open field to
the north, in association with the "old" Flett Dairy, and to the south by a
fairly, extensive oak forest, that in past years produced nesting
WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, with the last reliable sightings dating to 1993,
but I belive they have moved to other local patches of White Oak. The
marshy wetland is also rather extensive, and extends west of Lakewood Blvd.
via Flett Creek, west of the main wetland. Today during my stay I
concentated mainly on sparrow concentrations, which can vary to each visit,
but are worth checking especially this time of year. The "flocks" were
rather scarce today, due to partial wind, but extensive searching produced
1 SWAMP SPARROW, with good numbers of LINCOLN'S SPARROWS, and L.B.Marsh
Wrens, in brambles, closely associated with a weedy field, and the wetland,
at close hand, near where I had a imm.WHITE-THROATED SPARROW on 12-25.
Later, 2 adult tan-striped WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS were located together,
east of the wetland, with both"crowned" sparrows nearby. Other highlights
in the vicinity included: 1 AM.KESTREL(locally uncommon, especially in
winter), 1 MERLIN, 1 adult COOPER'S HAWK, 1 SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, 15 MOURING
DOVES, 2 RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKERS, 2 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, and 1
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. Not too bad for local birding, and the 2nd day of
2000!

Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net