Hey Tweets..

Thursday March 15 we had a pair of NORTHERN HARRIER at our house, and the
male was (and still is) performing a courtship display. We've now seen them
daily.
Friday March 16 we saw one WESTERN MEADOWLARK on a wire at Jesslyn &
Sequim-Dungeness, probably the same bird we saw very often last year.
Friday March 16 at Ediz Hook my father saw 1 WHIMBREL, 100 BRANT, & 50 BLACK
TURNSTONE.
Saturday March 17 at our house we saw 1 PILEATED WOODPECKER, 2 NORTHERN
(RED-SHAFTED) FLICKER, 3 RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER, 2 HAIRY WOODPECKER, and 1
RED-BREASTED X RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER.
We believe this hybrid may be a second or third generation bird as the
markings are not nearly as strong as we've seen in photographs of these
hybrids. This may be one of the same birds we saw about 2 years ago here,
though I remember them being even more Red-naped like. This bird had an
extended white moustachial stripe which then faded into the red, and then
further back continued to the nape. It had striping on the nape, though not
as much as on the birds we saw earlier. The first bird we saw had a long
moustachial stripe, a white supercilium, a broken eye line, and extensive
black and white striping on the nape, but none of these birds had a black
breast...

Tuesday March 20 at our house we had our first RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, a
female, 1 SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, and 1 RED-TAILED HAWK.
Tuesday March 20 on Deer Park Road we saw 15 TURKEY VULTURE.
Tuesday March 20 at Shore Road & 101 we saw 1 RED-TAILED HAWK & 1 BALD
EAGLE. Near Costco there was 1 RED-TAILED HAWK, & 6 TURKEY VULTURE. On the
bypass we saw the pair of AMERICAN KESTREL, it appears they might be going
to nest nearby.
Wednesday March 21 at our house we saw 25 BUSHTIT, 3 NORTHERN HARRIER (The
pair and an invading male which was quickly chased), our first male RUFOUS
HUMMINGBIRD, & 4 TURKEY VULTURE.
Wednesday March 21 on 101 across from Lakeside Industries we saw one SHRIKE
sp. This bird was sitting on a fence, occasionally diving down to the ground
and then returning to perch on the fence. It was rather small and plump, had
a short, stubby bill with no apparent hook. We saw no barring on the
underparts. The rump appeared to be around the same colour as the mantle
crown & nape, which were a darkish gray. We didn't get a good look at the
mask.. Any ideas as whether this was a Northern or Loggerhead?
Thursday March 22 at our house we saw 7 BAND-TAILED PIGEON, the most we've
seen so far this year, 1 PILEATED WOODPECKER, 1 CALIFORNIA QUAIL (a male,
calling).
Friday March 23 along 101 we saw 3 BALD EAGLE, & 4 RED-TAILED HAWK.
Friday March 23 we saw 4 VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW on Deer Park Road.
Today (Saturday March 24) on Deer Park we saw 22 TURKEY VULTURE.
Today at our house we saw 2 RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD at our feeder, 8
VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW, the first we've seen at our house, though they might
have been here much earlier as something cleaned the nest box out, which
happens around the same time every year. We also saw 1 OSPREY, 1 male
singing PURPLE FINCH, 1 calling BEWICK'S WREN, our first GOLDEN-CROWNED
SPARROW, and one PARTIAL ALBINO CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE. This bird had a
white tail with a brownish terminal band.

Elizabeth Noyes
Port Angeles, WA
noyes at olypen.com