Tweets,

For my 50th birthday I decided that a quest for 100 county species would be
the most invigorating thing I could do. Two requirements: (1) the blessing
of my non-birder wife to leave on a "family day" (got it); and (2) very few
dips on the target list. I awoke at 4:30 (mostly unintentionally) to rain
and bluster and ventured out anyway an hour later. After 3 hours I had
tallied 80 species from Weir Prairie to Tenino. So far so good. With a
minimum of arm-twisting Bob Sundstrom joined me at 9:00 "for a few hours" --
which, since we were on a roll, expanded to the rest of the day. We filled
in some key blanks on Vantine Rd and headed for Nisqually NWR and Luhr
Beach. Even with a personal "state bird" (W-f Ibis) at Nisqually and
practically all the "specialty birds" from south county, the count stood at
99 (2 of these were technically across the Pierce County line), so around
3:00 we headed to Capitol Forest (which Bob knows well). Final tally: 105. I
even made it home in time for a fabulous birthday meal. PS: Bob suggested
just for fun each year I should try to beat the previous count. Can I stand
that much excitement when I'm 60+? Sounds like a blast to me! I highly
recommend it!

Good birding!

Paul Hicks
Tenino
phicks AT accessgrace.org