Hi all -
This morning I made a visit to the Kent ponds [in King Co] and was
able to re-locate the Yellow-breasted Chat reported by Charlie Wright
yesterday. As he mentioned, it was visible from the south observation
tower. A scope was almost certainly a necessity. After an hour or so
of hearing [between 6-7:30] it but not locating it, I finally lucked
out when it perched up on top of a willow for a while -- the Chat
seemed pretty mobile and active, but for what it is worth, here's
where I saw it: Looking at the island, there are 4 tall dead snags
running from south to north [closest one to the platform being
southernmost]. The Chat was just north of the 2nd snag from the
south. From its calls, it seemed to move from there to even closer
points, nearer the southernmost snag. I believe it might also be
viewable from the pathway looking at the east side of the island [if
you were there for the Teal, this is the other spot where everyone
lined up]. Chat-tering calls were definitely the best way to find it
though.

Thanks Charlie & the rest of the census group,

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA


>
>From: "Charlie Wright" <c.wright7 at comcast.net>
>To: "Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>Date: Sun, 22 May 2005 15:05:34 -0700
>
>Hello All:
>During the Kent Ponds census several birders and I did today, we found a
>Yellow-breasted Chat singing in the center of the site. Two birders were
>even able to see it from the south observation platform. The exact location
>was in the willows on the lagoon island. For those of you who saw or
>searched for the Baikal Teal, the teal was usually on the edge of this
>island. The chat seemed to like singing from one particular young
>Douglas-fir. Other birds on the census included a Cooper's Hawk pair with
>nest, four Band-tailed Pigeons, two Western Wood-Pewees, and newly arrived
>Willow Flycatchers.
>Earlier in the morning, Roger Orness and I had 2 Western Kingbirds along
>285th Street near Kent.
>Cheers
>Charlie Wright
>Bonney Lake, Washington

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