Subject: B-n-W Warbler Grays, migrant wave
Date: May 25 11:47:50 2003
From: Scott Atkinson - scottratkinson at hotmail.com


Tweeters:

Although most of Graysmarsh is (mostly) closed to the public, I thought some
out there in Tweeterland might like to hear about our latest survey to this
remarkable site. Owing to weather and schedule conflicts, Anne Winskie and
I went late this late this year (Sat, May 24), but our cool May (until
recently) gave me reason to think we'd still be able to tap into the
passerine migration. This proved correct.

Like the Canadians judging from the Vancouver bird alert for May 23-24, we
had a horde of migrants over the same period. On May 23, the willow
thickets in the outer marsh were teeming with flycatchers, Swainson's
Thrushes, vireos, and warblers: rarities included a DUSKY FLYCATCHER (heard
and seen), a BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, and a CHIPPING SPARROW. The next day we
relocated these, although the BULLOCK'S ORIOLE was in all likelihood a
different bird, found in an unlikely site far away, a madrona tree in south
Grays along the bluff trail. And--Anne relocated the CHIPPING SPARROW, but I
had a second bird along south Holland Rd., so we had two for the day!

On May 24, the main migrant group had moved from the willow thickets to the
band of conifer forest that forms a barrier with the public beach access,
and into the hedgerows just south of there along the beach. At about 7 am,
I ran into a remarkable flock of birds near the middle of the conifer grove
that included several Warbling and one RED-EYED VIREO, and a mixed flock of
warblers, in deciduous thickets of the understory. I was scoping this out
when it happened: a first-year male BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER jumped out of
the thickets into the open, into the top of a dead cedar. It stayed there
just a moment before flying off with an Orange-crowned. I believe this is
just the second Black-and-white for CLALLAM.

If that wasn't enough, I was watching one of the several pewees on the edge
of the flock, when a W. KINGBIRD flew in and landed in the dead top branches
of the tallest firs of the grove, the spot we call the eagle roost. It was
flycatching for several minutes here. The vireo, warbler and kingbird were
not only notable rarities for Grays, they were all basically in the same
flock!

All told, we had 108 species, about average for a May survey but better than
I had expected, given that most of the regular winterers had left and
virtually all the shorebirds were gone. Passerines were the definite high
point, with 6 flycatcher sp. (even though we missed Hammond's, which had
been present May 23), all 4 vireos, and 9 warbler species. Highlights:

Blue-winged Teal 4
Cinnamon Teal 4
Wood Duck 4
Turkey Vulture 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 (late)
Osprey 1
Great Horned Owl 5 (family group & recently-fledged birds)
N. Saw-whet Owl 1
DUSKY FLYCATCHER 1 (both days)
WILLOW FLYCATCHER 7 (widespread arrival; none May 23)
Olive-sided Flycatcher 14 (high count)
W. Wood-Pewee 9
W. KINGBIRD 1
House Wren 4
Swainson's Thrush 38 (high count)
Cedar Waxwing 75 (widespread arrivals)
Am. Pipit 1 (late, heard only)
CASSIN'S VIREO 1 (singing along Holland Rd, has become rare in CLALLAM)
RED-EYED VIREO 1
Warbling Vireo 11
OC Warbler 46
Wilson's Warbler 25
Yellow Warbler 18
BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER 1 (1st-yr. male)
MacGillivray's Warbler 5 (high count)
CHIPPING SPARROW 2 (one May 23)
BULLOCK'S ORIOLE 1 (one May 23)

We had 108 species total, about average but better than I'd expected given
the fact that most winterers and virtually all shorebirds were gone. In
addition, as seems to always be the case over the course of doing a full-day
survey, we found a number of other interesting forms of life, including
several new plants for the property list and a number of mammals. We had 9
species of the latter, highlights being a Muskrat, a close-up view of an
Aplodontia (Mt. Beaver) as it crossed Port Williams Rd., and what appeared
to be fresh BLACK BEAR tracks in the marsh south (just looked it up in the
book). Red-legged Frogs seem to be common in many parts of the inner marsh.

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com

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