We went back to Damon Point today, two days after visiting with Marv,
because we were still in the area, and the opportunity to see these
beautiful birds so close up doesn't just happen every day. The weather was
quite a bit better, but still rough. Today we "only" saw five snowy owls.
This time I did bring along my camera. I hesitate to post this because I'm
no photographer, don't have any fancy equipment, and there are so many
wonderful pics referenced on this list - but here was our shot of the day:

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=76481933&size=o

No snow buntings, one peregrine - Mark
Mark Ahlness
mahlness at halcyon.com
http://ahlness.com
http://roomtwelve.com

-----Original Message-----
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu]On Behalf Of Marv Breece
Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 8:04 AM
To: Tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] Damon Pt Snowy Owls


Yesterday (12.20.05) 4 friends and I walked out Damon Spit at Ocean
Shores. Before we had reached the pond, 3 PEREGRINE FALCONS had flown by,
presumably 3 different individuals. Upon reaching the pond, we headed for
the beach and the driftwood. Before long we had in our sights 6 SNOWY OWLS.
No luck with Snow Buntings.

The weather was less than birder friendly, so we headed to Tokeland where
we could bird from the car, or at least close by. At high tide, the dock in
the harbor held the typical hundreds of MARBLED GODWITS. From the dry
warmth of a very nice van, I scoped each bird without locating a Bar-tailed
Godwit. With the godwits were a few LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS and about 15
WILLETS. A RIVER OTTER swam near the dock. We saw one WHIMBREL on the lawn
of a nearby house.

Although the dry spells were few on this rainy day, noone complained.

It was a good day.

Marv Breece
Seattle, WA