Dear Tweeters,

Yesterday on Fir Island, a Peregrine was eating a small, blackish bird near the White Swan guest house. There was no puddle there, although the rains could start producing some. At the Moore Rd. pond were a Killdeer and three Least Sandpipers.

Two trips to the Jensen Access (in between squalls) at high tide produced some interesting finds. A Common Loon fished offshore. A pair of White-winged Scoters flew in and joined a flock of Mergansers. The male scoter was quite spiffy, with the white eye-mark and colorful bill, and both birds showed white wingbars from far off. I believe the mergansers were Common Mergansers--there were no drakes in breeding plumage, and I could not resolve the color gradation or demarcation of the necks at long range, but the birds had white marks below the bill-base.

In the nearby fields, much of the crops have been harvested and the land ploughed; I looked for Baird's Sandpipers, but the ploughed fields had only Starlings, blackbirds, peeps, and a Semipalmated Plover. Soon, however, the Baird's ought to be utilizing these fields--they look just right.

Overflying the area were several flocks of Black-bellied Plover, four silent-billed dowitchers, and some birds that may have been golden plover species; again, I just could not tell.





Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

garybletsch at yahoo.com



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