Tweeters:

Anne Winskie and I were at Graysmarsh yesterday for our first BBS coverage,
although there have been part-day trips into the property a few times in
past Junes. We found 101 species over the course of the day, of which 71
were considered breeders and 9 more were possible.

There were no earth-shaking rarities, but there were several noteworthy
birds. We did toward eve add COM. NIGHTHAWK to the property list, a bird
heard over the heavy conifer forest southward near the beach. Probably the
bird of the day, however, was a peep Anne spotted first along the shores of
North Pond. It was a lone SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER just beginning molt from
breeding plumage; we studied this bird at close range as I marvelled at how
most first returners are in early July. Another early arrival shorebird was
a SEMIPALMATED PLOVER heard over the central marsh.

We were pleased to find evidence of 5 species of ducks breeding, including
both blue-winged teals (the hen BLUE-WINGED had four ducklings in tow); less
expected, I had what appeared to be a drake BLUE-WINGED X CINNAMON TEAL
hybrid. This bird flushed with Mallards. It had a head shape and sliver
white "moon" near the bill like Blue-winged (but a little smaller), but the
head was rusty like a real dark Cinnamon drake; the flanks were deep warm
brown, again like Cinnamon, but there was an obvious white rear flank patch
before the black tail--like Blue-winged. A BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, a species that
is local in Clallam Co., was heard only in riparian thickets in the back
part of the marsh, where we've had them sparingly in the past.

Raptors were a surprise--we had a pair of evidently nesting AM. KESTREL, a
species which until now has been represented by just a couple sightings for
some strange reason. Then a ad. SHARP-SHINNED HAWK passed through the
public beach area, a species generally not easy to find in June in the wWA
lowlands. And there were more BALD EAGLES than even our record number the
last CBC--we figured on at least 11 birds and one (or two) nests.

Two dry conifer forest species had best-ever showings--there were 7 HOUSE
WRENS on territory and two singing CASSIN'S VIREOS. This was only the
second time for Cassin's in nesting season, and none were found on the
county-wide Clallam census back on May 14. Other birds that were
represented in record-high numbers were Rufous Hummingbird (31),
Pacific-slope Flycatcher (31), Orange-crowned Warbler (57), and Brown-headed
Cowbird (40).

And lastly, a few CALIF. GULLS were present among the hybrids, Westerns and
GW along the beach, and both Mourning Dove and BT Pigeon had strong
showings.

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com