I was out doing some recording last night in the same places; I must have
missed you, though I did see a car pulled over by the bridge while I was
driving out of Carnation with two guys with bins? I did Sikes lake first
then carnation marsh until 9:30 pm
I too heard Sora, Rails and Bitterns on and around Sikes Lake although the
sora was too distant to get a good enough recording of the bird.
I got recordings of lazuli buntings at the marsh with Virginia rails, pewees
and the ospreys. Good evening with some noise pollution....

Martyn

-----Original Message-----
From: TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu
[mailto:TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of tperk11 at aol.com
Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 11:41 AM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Yellow-headed Blackbird, Bank Swallows at Sikes Lake (Carnation,
WA)

The following message from Houston Flores was sent last night but for some
reason it was not posted. Sorry for the delay.

- Tim Perkins
Sammamish, WA


Tim Perkins and I birded around Carnation this evening and there were some
great birds to be seen.

Here are the highlights from an hour spent at Sikes Lake (7:45-9:00pm):

Common Nighthawk 4 birds; I haven't seen many reports this
year
BANK SWALLOW 3 birds offered nice views of their
breastband and paler rump
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD 1 adult male flew over the road a few times

We also heard a few Sora, Virginia Rail and American Bitterns at the lake.

Prior to birding at Sikes Lake we birded the Carnation Marsh and areas just
south of the golf course. The birds were abundent at the marsh and in full
song. There were lots of pewees, flycatchers and Swainson's Thrushes,
though we were disappointed that weren't able to conjure up any vireos.
About a half mile south of the course, Tim heard a singing LAZULI BUNTING.
After further investigation, it turned out that there were at least three
Lazuli Buntings (2 males, 1 female) working the various hedgerows just east
of the road. All in all, it was a great evening of birding.


Good Migrations,

Houston Flores
Sammamish, WA
houstonflores AT hotmail.com