The Washington BirdBox is a voice mailbox sponsored by the Washington Ornithological Society. To leave a message about a notable sighting, or to listen to the messages from the last seven days, call (206) 281-9172 and follow the prompts.

Rachel Lawson is system administrator. She can be reached at
RachelLawson at softhome.net.

Please address any corrections (such as errors in place names or observers) to Rebecca Galloway, cametobe at comcast.net, 206-525-9102. (I'm afraid I've been particularly creative in some of the name-spelling this time.)

There were 11 reports since the last transcription date of Monday, 8/23.

Saturday, 11/6 8:54pm. This is Michael Fleming, 206 297 3234. Did some birding today with Stefan Slick. First of all we stopped by the Juanita Beach Bay Park and did see the AMERICAN BLACK DUCK there. Later in the afternoon we went up to the Skagit flats and stopped by the snow goose preserve area. And we had a SHORT EARED OWL there and we did see the CATTLE EGRET that was reported earlier, actually just across the street almost from the snow goose reserve and to the east a little. That's it, good luck and good birding

Saturday, 11/6 2:54pm. This is Steve Mlodinow. Dennis Duffy and I today birded the Stillaguamish delta and then went on up to north Camano Island. There was a CATTLE EGRET at the Norman Road and Marine View Drive, hanging out with some gulls. It was probably the same bird later found by Steve Pink, et al. on 36 th Ave north of Norman Road in the Stillaguamish delta. Also in the gull flock was the first year GLAUCOUS GULL first found by Charlie Wright. We had a YELLOW WARBLER, apparently an adult, in the southeast corner of the small town of Florence. At Rootsalatey Bay we had 184 EARED GREBES with just vast numbers of other water birds: couple thousand WESTERN GREBES, couple thousand SCOTERS, a hundred OLD SQUAW, etc.

Friday, 11/5 10:39a. This is Tom Aversa. I neglected to report that I talked with Jack Bettisworth this morning and he had a CLARK'S NUTCRACKER at Discovery Park in the south meadow area yesterday.

Friday, 11/5 9:06a. Hi, this is Tom Aversa. I birded Kittitas Co yesterday with Hal Opperman, Jolynn Edwards And Steve Gerstle. There was a lot of waterfowl in the river down at Vantage, including a flock of 7 PACIFIC LOONS, 3 WHITE WINGED SCOTERS, 2 SURF SCOTERS, and thousands of SCAUP and COOT and what not. Also had a MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE at the Ellensburg airport.

Sunday, 10/31 8:04p. This is Micheal Fleming, 206 297 3234. Went birding this weekend with Stefan Slick. On Saturday we went down to the mouth of Cedar River in Renton, where we had several THAYER'S GULLS. Later in the day we went over to Westport, where we stopped at float 20 where the ROCK SANDPIPERS were seen and went down to the wooden piers there where they were at, and had 12 ROCK SANDPIPERS among numerous SURFBIRDS and BLACK TURNSTONES. Later in the day we down to Midway Beach where we had a couple of the coastal HORNED LARKS. This afternoon, Sunday afternoon, we stopped by the Interpretive Center at Ocean Shores and had pretty good looks at a PALM WARBLER.

Sunday, 10/31 4:14p. This is Dennis Duffy. This afternoon I had 16 ANCIENT MURRLETS at the Edmonds fishing pier in about 20 mins. Most of them were flying by pretty close in, but there were 2 foraging right underneath the pier.

Wednesday, 10/27 7:52pm. This is Rachel Lawson, 206 282 5593. Today Penny Quoyrama, Kristin Stuart, Chris Vaughan and I had a great day out on Fir Island and the Samish flat. On Fir Island Road near the Haven Preserve we saw a BLUE MORPH SNOW GOOSE in a big flock of SNOW GEESE. And on the Samish Island Road near the west 90 we saw the GYRFALCON on top of the telephone pole.

Saturday, 10/23 11:58am. This is Marv Breece, 206 634 1725. This morning there is a GYRFALCON at the west 90 in Skagit County.

Saturday, 10/23 10:20am. Philip Hartley, 409 521 4898. The BLACK TAILED GULL and the BAR TAILED GODWIT were both in their typical locations at North Cove and Tokeland as of 8am on 10/23/04.

Thursday, 10/21 8:06 pm. This is Tom Aversa. Thanks to Rachel for getting this thing rolling again. Today I birded up north and there was Anorthern Water Thrush at the Skagit Game Range at Fir Island, just west of the second bridge. I had heard this bird in the same spot 3 weeks ago. It was good to get a look at it today. Also a WHITE THROATED SPARROW nearby. Also a male WILSON'S WARBLER at the Bayview landfill, right where there was one 2 years ago. Maybe this one will stick around for the Christmas count too. Some swans were around today: 4 TRUMPETERS flying over the game range, and 7 unidentified ones nearby. Thanks.

Wednesday, 10/20 11:08 am. This is Rachel Lawson, Birdbox system admin. The birdbox is back on line!