Subject: Am. Tree Sparrow/Damon Point
Date: Jan 28 22:25:57 2001
From: xenops - xenops at email.msn.com


Sat. night I did a little owling south of South Bend to southern Grays Harbor Co. At 8pm heard 1 Western Screech-Owl 3.9 miles
south of South Bend on South Bend-Palix Rd. At 1:30am north of Raymond just north of the highest part of Hwy. 101 in a clear cut
heard 2 Northern Saw-whet Owls. At 5am on Hwy 101 just north approx. 1.3 miles into Grays Harbor Co. heard another Northern
Saw-whet Owl again on the edge of a logged over unit.

At 7am tried for Short-eared Owls on the game range at Ocean Shores with Marv Breece. A stiff cold wind and no owls. We headed
over to Damon Point where Randy Hill joined us. 1 ad. Snowy Owl on some driftwood just south of the east most point of Damon Point.
Heading back we worked the tall grass just south of the road towards the pond when we flushed up an American Tree Sparrow which was
playing hide and seek with us as it flew from one evergreen tree to another. Is this possibly the same bird Dennis Paulson saw on
Oct. 8 last year? Slightly further south in sparser grass we located 2 Lapland Longspurs. The Rock Sandpipers along with the
Surfbirds and Black Turnstones were very easy to spot at the base of the jetty. We tried for a possible Palm Warbler, but came up
empty-handed.

Mid afternoon we worked the Brady Loop Rd., but could not find the Red-shouldered Hawk. On the east Brady Loop Rd. were 3 Western
Scrub Jays. After dark there was 1 Short-eared Owl two-thirds of the way down the west Brady Loop Rd. We could not find any Barn
Owls possibly due to rain.

Ken Knittle, Gold Bar, WA
xenops at msn.com