Subject: Swainson's Thrush & State park Issaquah
Date: Mar 22 17:25:37 2004
From: Ruth Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello,
I have taken the latest record of our new ABA Birdfinding Guide "A BIRDERS GUIDE TO WASHINGTON " by Hal Opperman.You must prefer of our old book from 1989 where the Swainson's Thrush was listed at 15th of May,The new book by Hal Opperman this came out in November of 2003.The dates are collected by avid birders from Washington who sent there records in for the Field Notes.The new dates got moved up to first of May.So you bird would be 5 weeks early.We see if any one birders report them in the next few weeks.


Ruth Sullivan
Fircrest Tacoma






----- Original Message -----
From: "Martyn Stewart" <mstew at naturesound.org>
To: "'Wayne C. Weber'" <contopus at telus.net>; "'MARTYN STEWART'" <mstew at naturesound.org>
Cc: "'TWEETERS'" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 4:28 PM
Subject: RE: Swainson's Thrush & State park Issaquah


> Yes, I saw the bird yesterday and he was calling again this afternoon, I
> actually recorded the bird too and when I have filtered out the noise I will
> post it. The earliest Swainson's I have seen in my diary is March 28th, this
> was 1999. This was no Starling, Starlings are extremely good mimickers but
> not this good, I saw the bird in the Microsoft meadow yesterday and I heard
> him again today. Records are broken all the time including daily
> temperatures, birds are shifting areas due to global warming, things are not
> what they were back in 1982, you are taking information that is 22 years
> old!
> Thing is Wayne, I am one of those who will NOT identify a bird until I am
> 100% sure, I would only be kidding myself and for what?
>
> Martyn
>
> Martyn Stewart
> Birds Sounds Digitally Recorded at:
> http://www.naturesound.org
> N47.65543 W121.98428
> Redmond. Washington. USA
> Make every Garden a wildlife Habitat
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wayne C. Weber [mailto:contopus at telus.net]
> Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 10:24 AM
> To: MARTYN STEWART
> Cc: TWEETERS
> Subject: Re: Swainson's Thrush & State park Issaquah
>
> Martyn,
>
> A Swainson's Thrush in March would be extremely unusual. Gene Hunn, in
> "Birding in Seattle and King County" (1982) indicates that the main
> arrival of Swainson's Thrush is in May, with only a few appearing in
> late April, and none in March. Where I live, around Vancouver, B.C.,
> the average spring arrival date over 28 years for Swainson's Thrush is
> May 6, and the earliest record ever is April 16. In addition,
> Swainson's Thrushes usually do not begin singing until a week or two
> after they arrive on their territories, or about May 20 in our area.
>
> You did not indicate whether or not you saw the bird, or only heard
> it. I have heard Starlings give some very credible imitations of a
> Swainson's Thrush song. Could it be that perhaps you heard a Starling
> imitation rather than a real Swainson's Thrush? This is one sighting
> for which some visual confirmation would definitely be helpful.
>
>
> Wayne C. Weber
> Delta, BC
> contopus at telus.net
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Martyn Stewart <mstew at naturesound.org>
> To: 'Tweeters' <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2004 4:00 PM
> Subject: Swainson's Thrush & State park Issaquah
>
>
> > I got my first Swainson's thrush of the season this afternoon at
> State Park
> > Issaquah, beautiful haunting spiral sound!
> >
> > The herons are doing well on the building with maybe 5 to 6 more
> nests than
> > last year; I counted 41 herons in the Heronry :-)
> >
> > Tree swallows in abundance, no willow flycatchers yet or common
> > yellowthroats but after today's sunshine, the dorsal tones will soon
> be with
> > us :-)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Martyn
> >
>
>
>
>
>