Subject: Long-tailed Duck in Thurston CO.
Date: Mar 3 11:56:49 2003
From: Jason Paulios - jpaulios at hotmail.com


Today, Mar. 03, I finally ended my search for LONG-TAILED DUCK in Thurston
Co. by finding one on the north end of Capitol Lake in Olympia. The bird
was swimming towards the middle near where the gulls congregate. If you
look from the section where the Red Phalarope was earlier this year, scan
towards the capitol buildings.

I went home thinking it was a female, since the tail wasn't long, but after
looking in the field guides I'm thinking it may be a first year male. The
bill had a pink center, and the guides show this only in male birds.
Anybody know when they acquire the long tails?

The sad thing is that I've seen L/T Duck, Harlequin and Redhead in Thurston
CO. before seeing a Black Scoter! Scanning through Scott Richardson's book
of birds in the East Bay of Olympia, Black Scoters were common birds for the
region. I've looked in appropriate habitat in Thurston CO. (constantly
searching east bay) since fall of 2000 and still haven't seen this species.
This is probably a common lament throughout Puget Sound.

Also present on the lake were about 30 TREE SWALLOWS, my first for the
spring.

Other interesting birds:
1 Pelagic Cormorant
10 P/B Grebe
11 G/W Teal
2 R/N Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
1 LONG-TAILED DUCK
8 C. Goldeneye
10 Hooded Merganser
13 Common Merganser
1 Bald Eagle (first-year)
3 Mew Gull
1 HUTTON'S VIREO (singing)
30 TREE SWALLOW
2 Brown Creeper
12 Ruby-crowned Kinglets (most were singing)
60 PINE SISKIN

Jason Paulios
JPaulios at hotmail.com
Olympia, WA


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