Subject: [Tweeters] Northern Shrike near Hansville
Date: Oct 9 18:58:41 2004
From: Ruth Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Tweets,

This afternoon my mother and I birded at Point No Point near Hansville in extreme northern Kitsap Co.,where we observed the Palm Warbler previous reported by Brad Waggoner on the 8th of October and recently this morning by Doug Watkins. This afternoon we observed the bird at 4pm,as the bird was first detected by it's distinctive sharp,slurred,somewhat metallic "chip" call,then soon located in the large pine tree at the south end of the lighthouse residence grounds(immediately next to the tall radar tower). The bird continued calling,as it foraged on the lowest overhanging branches of the pine tree,then eventually flew around the yard then eventually landed on a fenceline bordering a large natural area. The bird continued calling,as it wagged and bobbed it's tail in typical Palm Warbler behavior until it flew off to the east into a large bush clump within the natural area. The bird was observed diving into a patch of cattails bordering this bush clump,then soon upon walking around then to the clump a immature Northern Shrike was detected. We figured the Palm Warbler continued on to another brush area or hunkered down and sat tight,as not to be detected by the Northern Shrike. This was our personal first Northern Shrike of the fall season,so perhaps other will show up this weekend in western WA and beyond.

The weather was not too bad at Point No Point with some wind and partly sunny skies,fairly rough waters were visible offshore. Away from the highlights mentioned above conditions were quite slow at Point No Point,but a few additional species of note were encountered. A list of notable species from Point No Point included the following:

15 Pacific Loons
4 Common Loons
9 Horned Grebes
12 Red-necked Grebes
2 Western Grebes
8 Brandt's Cormorants
14 Surf Scoters
4 Red-breasted Mergansers
2 adult Parasitic Jaegers
145+ Bonaparte's Gulls
32 Heermann's Gulls
55 Common Murres
24 Pigeon Guillemots
4 Rhinoceros Auklets
8 Savannah Sparrows
1 Lincoln's Sparrows
4 Golden-crowned Sparrows


Sincerely,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net