Subject: SAS trip to Spencer Island 11/1/2001
Date: Nov 2 14:10:47 2001
From: Grad, Andrea E. - agrad at helsell.com


That is really horrible -- I hope someone reported them!

Andrea

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Cleland [mailto:cleland at u.washington.edu]
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2001 2:08 PM
To: Grad, Andrea E.
Cc: Tweeters (E-mail)
Subject: RE: SAS trip to Spencer Island 11/1/2001


Andrea,
No, Michael was not refering to the N end of Spencer Island. As
a
member of that field trip I watched these 3 young men standing on the
cross-dike in the S area, blasting away in all directions. It looked to
me that they were even shooting at sitting ducks! There was hunting
going
on in the N area, which we expected.

************************
Robert Cleland

Professor, Botany Dept. Box 355325
Univ. of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-5325
Phone (206) 543-6105; FAX (206) 685-1728


On Fri, 2 Nov 2001, Grad, Andrea E. wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>