No luck on finding the STFL today, Sunday. I was there between 4 and 5 PM today.
The locals were very curious about the commotion but very hospitable.

A minor addition on the directions. Take SR 20 to Rockport, turn on to Hwy 530 and
cross the Skagit River. The first left after the bridge is an obscure dirt road. Don't take
it. Got the Martin Road and take a left.

Best of luck.

John J. Hebert
Yakima, WA
jhebert at nwinfo.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Gary Bletsch
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Cc: info at wildbirdstore.com
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2003 6:40 PM
Subject: did anyone see the STFL Sunday?


Dear Tweeters,

I was wondering if anyone else got to see the STFL in Rockport?

A number of people have e-mailed me, asking for more details about this Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, which was found by Gail and Steve Aslanian in Rockport on May 31. The Aslanians found the bird around three PM, I believe. They were able to phone me, and I got up there around four, where I found Marv Breece, who (luckily for him) was birding just around the corner. The four of us watched the bird for about an hour. We had all visited Texas just a few weeks ago and seen many STFL's. I tried to play devil's advocate for a while and figure what other species it could possibly be, but there really was no other possibility. The bird had a pale grey face with dark eye-mark, long tail (not super-long like a male STFL's tail, but way longer than a kingbird would have, and strongly forked, like the tail of a Black Drongo). It behaved as STFL's and kingbirds always do, hawking flying insects from conspicuous perches. We all got to see the reddish! coloration of the wing linings. The bird perched next to a Tree Swallow for a few minutes; it was far bigger than the swallow.

Howard Armstrong showed up around 5:20 and watched the bird for fifteen minutes or so. Two other fellows who were looking for raptors also observed the bird, but I don't recall their names. Anyway, no one had the slightest doubt but that it was a STFL.

The last of us (Howard and I) left the bird at around 5:45.

Incidentally, efforts were made to phone the Birdbox. Unfortunately, the cellular phones kept cutting out in the mountainous terrain, and it wasn't until I got home that I could dial up the Birdbox and Tweeters.

I took a a dozen or so photographs with a point-and-shoot film camera. I do not expect very good results, as I am one of the world's worst photographers, but when I get them developed I will see if I can get them scanned to make them available, if anybody wants to see them.

Good birding!



Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com



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