Dear Tweeters,

Jim McCoy and I went for a Skagit-County-only century
day on May 15. I found 112 species, and Jim 113
species, on this excellent day. Some of the highlights
included:

Pied-billed Grebe, 1 calling at Barnaby Slough;

American Bittern, 5 + at Fir Island Game Range,
including three of them flying together;

Trumpeter Swan, 1 late individual at the West Ninety;

Surf Scoter, 200 + in beautiful breeding plumage,
March's Point;

Peregrine Falcon, 1 at Martin Road near Rockport;

Ruffed Grouse, 1 heard at Barnaby Slough;

Blue Grouse, 3 heard on Sauk Mt;

Virginia Rail, heard at three places including one at
State Route 20 milepost 76;

Sora, one heard at Burlington;

Lesser Yellowlegs, one on Butler Flats;

Pectoral Sandpiper, 2 east of Lyman;

Long-billed Dowitcher, a dozen or so on Samish Flats,
one on March's Pt;

Wilson's Snipe, one calling east of Lyman;

Band-tailed Pigeon, 5 east of Lyman;

Barred Owl, 2 together on Sauk Mt;

N Saw-whet Owl, one at Harry Osborne State Forest, two
at Rockport State Park;

Purple Martin, 11 at Ship Harbor Ferry Landing,
Anacortes;

Grey Jay, one on Sauk Mt;

Hermit Thrush, 2 on Sauk Mt;

American Pipit, one at Concrete;

MacGillivray's, one each on Martin Ranch Road and Sauk
Mt;

Lazuli Bunting, a pair east of Lyman.

Evening Grosbeak, 4 or more east of Hamilton.

Some of the disappointing misses included the
following: Green Heron, Pileated Woodpecker, House
Wren, Bushtit, Common Murre, Brandt's Cormorant, GWF
Goose, Bank Swallow, Dipper, and Whimbrel. The lack of
Whimbrel continues to cause me great consternation--we
even missed a flock that had been seen on Gardner Road
the day before by other birders.

We saw only two teal all day, an unidentified female
and the Cinnamon that Jim saw and I missed. We did see
quite a few pairs of Gadwall here and there. At the
Game Range I saw two herons that looked funny, and
which might have been BC Night Herons.

No great rarities showed up, but we found almost all
the common birds. As always happens, we hit "the wall"
in the afternoon, after enjoying the thrill of adding
a species every ten or fifteen minutes or so during
the morning. At the end of the day, after over 20
hours of birding, we had one of those peculiar
moments--we realized that virtually any bird we might
lay eyes on would be "just another such-and-such," at
least in the twisted perspective of a century day.

What fun! I can't wait to rest for twelve months, so
I can do it again next year.



=====

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com





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