Hello Tweets,

Today Dave Hayden, Jim Pruske, and my mother, and I ventured to the north
part of W WA, in search of the recent rarities, as we encountered 3 out of 4
target species. The weather was mostly cloudy with isolated heavy rain at
times, mostly confined to areas south of Bellingham, and then again around
northern Everett. We ran into several birders at most locations, where we
stopped for target birds at key locations. We started out near Blaine, in
northern Whatcom Co., along Stein Rd., where the NORTHERN HAWK OWL was
present from 8-9am during our visit, as it actively flew from tree to tree,
along the south edge of the raspberry field, east of the road, directly
across the road of the residence of 8699 Stein Rd. The bird was noted almost
immediately after arriving, as Dave spotted the bird in a tall Cottonwood
tree along the south edge of the raspberry field, then it flew to a tall
Douglas fir closer to the road, as it chased off a 1st year Bald Eagle, then
back to another Cottonwood, but this time lower, and more concealed at
times, then it finally was noted flying to the north across the entire field
and out of sight, but probably to be seen later in the day by other birders.
Due to the distance, the bird was never photographed, but viewed well in
spotting scopes.

Next, we worked our way south to Skagit Co., where we observed 2 adult
BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS along the annual roost along Fir Island Rd., then
to Stanwood at 10:30am, where the GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE was noted upon
arriving across the road from the Wolfkill Feed and Seed Station along 271st
St., perched on telephone wires and poles, amongst a small flock of mostly
Brewer's Blackbirds, Starlings, and a few Red-winged Blackbirds, occasionaly
coming down for hand-outs, but unfortunately was too quick for any
photographes on the ground, as it quickly flew back to the telephone wires,
with photos taken of the bird perched from below on wires at two locations.
The bird was present at this location for about 1 1/2 hours, before it flew
to the NW along 90th Ave, just west of the Thriftway in a birch tree, with
Starlings, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Am.Crows, then it flew south to 271st,
where it perched on wires, until we departed at 12:20pm.

Other notable species observed at this location included:

43 TRUMPETER SWANS
1 COOPER'S HAWK
67 MOURNING DOVES
1 WESTERN SCRUB JAY(heard along the western vegetated slope of Pioneer Way,
in a residential area, among 2-3 Steller's Jays)
6 LINCOLN'S SPARROWS

At 1pm we were at Spencer Island, in Snohomish Co., where again, as in the
other species, we located the adult RED-SHOULDERED HAWK almost immediately
upon arriving, after the isolated rain showers led up, allowing somewhat
great views in the spotting scope, after it was flushed from the marshy
wetland, just east of the entrance barn, where it flew to the north into the
canopy of a clump of alders trees, then later was observed feeding on a
recent kill of a snake, lower in the same tree.

Other highlights at this location, and at the nearby Everett STP included:

4-5 VIRGINIA RAILS
240+ CANVASBACKS
1 COOPER'S HAWK
1 COMMON SNIPE
1 PILEATED WOODPECKER
1 NORTHERN SHRIKE

Finally, we scoped the fields, just west of the Westwind Farm along the
"old" Snohomish-Monroe Hwy. at 2:45-3:30pm, south of Snohomish, with NO luck
in finding the gray-morph GYRFALCON, but were able to observe at least 3
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE amongst a flock of 120 TRUMPETER SWANS in the
same vicinity.

All in all a great weekend, especially with getting all our highlights very
quickly, with minimal effort!

Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net