I assume Michael was referring to the north end of Spencer
Island as where the hunters were -- the south end is the refuge.
Also, hunters contribute millions of dollars a year to habitat
restoration/preservation (through, e.g., Ducks Unlimited) and
state/federal wildlife stewardship (through license fees), so I hope
people keep that in mind before using blanket derogatory labels for
them. If they were hunting in the refuge, of course, that's another
story ...

Andrea Grad
Alki
agrad at helsell.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Hobbs [mailto:Hummer at isomedia.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 9:11 PM
To: Tweeters (E-mail)
Subject: SAS trip to Spencer Island 11/1/2001


Hi Tweets - today I led a Seattle Audubon field trip to Spencer Island
and the
Everett STP which provided some pretty good birding. The weather wasn't
too
bad; a bit dark, but the wind stayed moderate, the temperature was
comfortable,
and the rain held off. We would have done even better, except three
PEA-BRAINED MORONS (PBMO) were hunting in the south end of the island
for
almost the whole morning.

The most notable birds were 3-4 WHITE-THROATED SPARROW - one
white-stripe about
50 yards north of the bridge on the west side of the island. Two about
50
yards further north on the east side of the path in a great sparrow
patch that
also featured SONG, LINCOLN'S, FOX, and GOLDEN-CROWNED. And a
tan-striped bird
on the East side of the island about 150 yards north of the cross-island
dyke.

Other highlights:

Common Loon 1 on lagoon
Tundra Swan 6 flew in low over the barn
Bald Eagle 2 adults north of Langus Park
Cooper's Hawk Immature hunting SW of lagoon
Peregrine Falcon Beautiful adult female
Black-bellied Plover ~50 on the west side of the lagoon
Dunlin ~70 with the BBPL
Thayer's Gull 1 in the treatment plant
Pileated Woodpecker Several sightings, at least 2 birds
Barn Swallow Three or four

Pretty good numbers of ducks, including many GADWALL, SHOVELER, RUDDY
DUCK, and
CANVASBACK on the sewage lagoon.

We were at the south end of the island when the PEREGRINE FALCON flew in
from
the east end of the cross-island dyke and landed, facing us, in a snag
about 50
yards away from us. She was gorgeous, and very cooperative. She let us
watch
as long as we wanted.

VIRGINIA RAIL were not seen, but were heard whenever the yahoos fired
their
gun.

Besides the Thayer's, we had several hundred BONAPARTE'S, MEW, and
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS, and at least one or two RING-BILLED and
CALIFORNIA
GULLS.

At the south end, right after the peregrine, a male HAIRY WOODPECKER
landed on
a snag right in front of us. Within seconds, two DOWNY WOODPECKER
joined the
Hairy on the same snag. A great comparison. In the same area were the
PILEATEDS and many NORTHERN FLICKER.

Lots of PINE SISKIN, though surprisingly, no goldfinch.

In all, 63 species, and enough "misses" that we could easily have hit 70
with a
bit more luck. Oh, and I almost stepped on a large, green striped
GARTER
SNAKE.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== hummer at isomedia.com