Dear Tweeters,

There were some interesting birds at the West Ninety,
Samish Flats today. Six Semipalmated Plover were
flying around with Western Sandpipers. A single
Whimbrel was out by the dike, where I also flushed two
Cinnamon Teal. Lots of Barn Swallows and Savannah
Sparrows were present, as were four Northern Harriers
(a female adult and three juveniles).

Over at Samish Island Public Beach, there were about a
dozen Mew Gulls, three Ring-billed Gulls, and several
Glacous-winged. I also saw my first Red-necked Grebe
of the season. There were also two other grebes that,
unfortunately, I could not ID. They were either Horned
or Eared. They were in their black-and-white plumage,
but too far out to get a good look. From what I could
see, they looked more like Horned, since they did not
"ride high," although that is not the greatest field
mark. I have never seen either species in Skagit
County in August, so they surprised me.

At my house near Lyman yesterday, I was surprised to
see an adult female Black-headed Grosbeak still
feeding a juvenile male. Today, there were four
juvenile Barn Swallows, still being fed by adults.
These were not the ones that had hatched here on my
property, so I don't know where they came from--"my"
birds have been gone for weeks.

=====

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com




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