Well the urge to twitch a Tropical Kingbird, a potential life bird, was just
too much for me to take, especially after knowing it was relocated after we
left Ocean Shores on Sunday. So I decided to skip my morning classes at
SPSCC and leave early this morning for Ocean Shores. I arrived at 8:00AM
across from the Discovery Inn and worked the trees/Scotch Broom thickets near
the marina. After about 15 minutes of finding the usual mixed
Kinglet/Chickadee/Sparrow flocks, I encountered the bird.
Near the wooden overlook of the water just north of the Marina, I heard an
unfamiliar chattering call. I look up and see the bird making the call is
flying away, and then landed not too far from where it departed. It was
indeed a Tropical Kingbird, and a calling bird too. I was worried beforehand
whether or not I could differentiate between a Tropical and a Couch's if I
were to have found the bird, since I had no prior experience with either.
But with the bird actually calling, it set my mind at ease. Not meaning that
I didn't trust the judgement of the other birders who had seen the bird(s) in
the last few days, as I knew all who had encountered theTRKI's were quite
reliable birders, I just had not heard any details on how the bird was
separated from the Tropical/Couch's complex and didn't want to have that
doubt lingering in my mind.
The bird flew across closer to the marina as I approached, so I quickly
grabbed my scope out of the car and followed the bird to where it had landed.
I got within about 30-40 yards away, and with my Bausch and Lomb 80mm Elite
scope at 60x, I observed the bird for about 15 minutes.
The bill appeared quite long, with a gradual tapering to the tip.
Gray head and whitish throat.
Dark mask behind the eye.
Yellow-green breast and yellow belly. Greenback.
The Greater and Median Coverts were finely edged with white.
I was also quite taken with how short-tailed the bird looked.
Call a jumble of high notes, hard to put into words.

Well I couldn't stay and admire the bird forever, as I still needed to catch
my Biology Lab class, so I left the bird and the last place I saw it was
sitting on the railing overlooking the canal from Duck Lake to the sea. Did
have a PALM WARBLER as I was heading back to my car.

Good Birding

Ryan Shaw
Lacey, WA
RTShaw80 at aol.com
http://hometown.aol.com//rtshaw80/index.html