Hi Tweeters,

Jan and I ventured over to the Mountain Quail site near Belfair State Park
in Mason County yesterday morning and eventually got looks at two adults
and a pair of chicks. We searched the location with Rodney White's Slough
(see Connie Sidle's directions from July 27) for several hours, both by
walking and driving slowly along the gravel road. Finally, at about 9:20
a.m., we spotted the birds on the roadside about midway between the
entrance off the Belfair-Tahuya Road and the slough. They were quite far
ahead of us, but flushed almost immediately when I tried to sneak closer
on foot. We waited and watched from the car for 15-20 minutes, hoping
they might reappear. When that didn't happen, we drove forward and found
them in some low vegetation on the road edge. They again ran off, but I
did get a close look at one chick, which was just starting to show its
extended head plume.

Soon after that and a bit farther down the road, we encountered one of the
largest warbler flocks that I've ever seen. It probably held at least
40-50 individuals, most of which were Yellow-rumped Warblers. However,
4-5 Black-throated Grays, 2 MacGillivary's, 1 Townsend's, and 1 Wilson's
were also present. I'd guess that 90% of the birds were immatures. No
other species were included aside from a few loosely associated Cedar
Waxwings. The flock fed voraciously around us for 15 minutes before
finally moving on.

Gary Wiles
Tumwater, WA
wilesharkey at yahoo.com




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