Subject: lots of arrivals in Skagit
Date: May 3 07:57:36 2004
From: Gary Bletsch - garybletsch at yahoo.com


Dear Tweeters,

I always seem to find the spring arrivals later than
everyone else, so all the new birds I saw yesterday
might draw a ho-hum from those birders who were
beating the bushes for migrants in late April.

>From my perspective, though, yesterday was that
magical first real day of spring. At Cockreham Island
and vicinity, I found six species that I'd not seen
since last summer:

Vaux's Swift
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Wilson's Warbler
Warbling Vireo
Black-headed Grosbeak
Western Tanager

Up the hill at Harry Osborne State Forest, there were
some singing Orange-crowned Warblers, another
Pacific-slope Flycatcher, and a Swainson's Thrush.

Other Tweeters have commented on the large numbers of
Yellow-rumped Warblers around. I have not seen these
big flocks in my area. The three or four I saw down on
the Butler Flats last week would be the biggest flock
I have seen. In the "lower upper Skagit Valley," I
have heard them singing for several weeks, but they
aren't falling out of the bushes. We do have lots of
Common Yellowthroats singing (just about every ditch
has one or two now).

The vernal pond off Lyman-Hamilton Road still had a
Greater Yellowlegs, a Cinnamon Teal, and a few
Mallards this morning, but the water level is dropping
perilously. I hope there's some left for next
weekend's migration count.



=====

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com





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