Gilbert and Jean Findlay emailed me that they had a Mountain Chickadee at their feeder today and I went over to see it. I know there has been an invasion of the lowland areas recently but I was very surprised that they would swim so far over the water. It's about a mile across Colvos Passage to Kitsap County and about two miles to Pt. Defiance.

I don't chase county list birds, just make a note of them as I go along but I have been anticipating this one for awhile, as it's my 200th for King County. This is a new bird for Vashon Checklist, now up to 233 species, of which the Mtn. Chickadee makes number 179 for me personally.

The oil spill continues to be a concern with the first oiled bird for Vashon-Maury Island washing up near Pt. Robinson yesterday. We expect a growing number over the next few weeks but hope we get lucky and the birds dodged the bullet. The oiled areas were heavily used locations for birds but the birds seemed to have started avoiding many of the areas with a sheen of oil on them within the first day or so.

Ed Swan
Vashon Island