Breaker Lake, Pacific County, Washington
October 20, 2004

It was a very pleasant and sunny morning for doing a bird
survey. The first RING-NECKED DUCKS of the season have
returned. A "black" MERLIN was in a tree just north of
station 14. Winter numbers of sparrows and kinglets were
noted as well.

In the "I've never seen that before" department. A medium
size BANANA SLUG (_Ariolimax columbianus_) was dangling at
eye level from a 20cm string of mucus, apparently using it
as a line for getting down from the tree it was in.

It looks like there's been regular vehicle traffic into the
main property, presumably duck hunters.

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):

Great Blue Heron 1
Canada Goose 20
Mallard 2
Ring-necked Duck 3
Merlin 1 [1]
Virginia Rail 2
Unidentified gull 2
Band-tailed Pigeon 14
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 3
Hutton's Vireo 1
Steller's Jay 9
American Crow 7
Common Raven 1
Black-capped Chickadee 12
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 7
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
Bewick's Wren 2
Winter Wren 26
Marsh Wren 9
Golden-crowned Kinglet 36
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 5
Hermit Thrush 1
American Robin 10
Varied Thrush 1
European Starling 23
Cedar Waxwing 6
Townsend's Warbler 1
Spotted Towhee 1
Fox Sparrow 30
Song Sparrow 23
Dark-eyed Junco 3
Red-winged Blackbird 6
Purple Finch 1
House Finch 1
Red Crossbill 14
House Sparrow 1

Footnotes:

[1] black phase

Total number of species seen: 37

This census is conducted on properties owned and managed by
the Columbia Land Trust. At this time access is limited to
authorized individuals.

--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
celata at pacifier.com

Common species are more common than rare species
--- Dennis Paulson in
_Shorebirds of the PNW_