Tweeters,

On April 16, I spent most of the day birding in Snohomish County, in
an
effort to add some species to my "county list". Despite weather which
featured largely overcast skies with occasional heavy showers, I did
succeed in adding 5 species to my county list.

My first goal was to get to Mount Pilchuck, or as close as possible.
This is one spot I've never visited before, and I was missing several
mountain species for my county list.

Driving down from Vancouver, I left Interstate 5 at State Route 530,
and drove through Arlington and along Burn Road toward Granite Falls.
Most of this route was unbirdable because of heavy rain, but as I
approached Granite Falls, the rain stopped and the sun came out
briefly. Along 100th Street NE, near Granite Falls, I stopped briefly
and heard EVENING GROSBEAKS calling. The trees nearby were full of
them, and a flock of at least 40 grosbeaks burst out of the trees and
flew across the road. (Yup-- a "county bird" for me!) In Granite
Falls itself, another flock of at least 15 EVENING GROSBEAKS was heard
and seen.

I headed east on the Mountain Loop Highway, and stopped briefly at the
Verlot Ranger Station, not realizing that it was closed on weekdays.
However, as described in an earlier message, I heard a singing
BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER-- my first of the season.

Just past Verlot was the turnoff for Mount Pilchuck. Since the road
climbs to 3100 feet altitude, I expected that part or all of it would
be closed by snow. However, I was pleased to find that the road was
open most of the way up-- it was blocked by snow at about Mile 7.

Although things were fairly quiet along most of the Mount Pilchuck
road, I tallied 14 species, as follows:

Blue Grouse 3 heard hooting
Band-tailed Pigeon 2 seen and heard singing
Northern Flicker 1
Steller's Jay 4
Chestnut-b. Chickadee 12
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Winter Wren 6
American Robin 1
Varied Thrush 2
Orange-c. Warbler 1
Spotted Towhee 1
Song Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 6
Pine Siskin 4

Heading back the way I came after a late lunch, I birded along a
powerline off Burn Road south of Arlington. This produced a total of
30 species of birds, none of them very unusual. However, I thought
that 4 singing MOURNING DOVES in this part of Snohomish County was
quite a few.

The last area I birded was along Norman Road and the cross roads
between it and the Pioneer Highway, west of Silvana. This area has
produced some good shorebird records in the past, but the fields are
so dry that I doubt if this will be the case this year. I tallied only
26 species in this area. However, one of these was quite unexpected--
an AMERICAN BITTERN "pumping" from the east end of the slough near
36th Avenue and Pioneer Highway. A VIRGINIA RAIL was also heard
calling in the marshy area, as were a couple of COMMON YELLOWTHROATS
and MARSH WRENS.

I had hoped to also bird the Stillaguamish Delta area, but time ran
out and I had to head back to BC. However, the Stilly Delta is only
about a 1.5 hour drive from home for me, so I'll be back another day.

Good luck and good birding,

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net