Hello, birders.

I had a great time visiting Western Washington last
week. Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions on
how to find the target birds that I wanted to seek. I
saw several life birds during my trip. It was also
cool to see other races of species that look and/or
sound different than they do in the East. And the
weather held up nicely, with little rain and even a
few sunny days.

Also, I loved seeing the sights and meeting the people
out your way. I found people to be quite friendly,
which was so nice.

Some uncommon bird species that I saw during my trip:

- TUNDRA SWAN - 4 early birds in field at Samish
Flats, Skagit Co., Oct. 20

- BLACK SCOTER - 1 female in Oak Harbor of Whidbey
Island, off City Beach Park on Oct. 21

- BARROW'S GOLDENEYE - 1 early male at Green Lake Park
in Seattle, Oct. 23, previously posted

- BLUE GROUSE - Found a tame male at edge of alpine
zone near Spray Park Trail at Mt. Rainier NP on Oct.
17. This bird, which looked like a member of the
interior race, actually walked toward me. It got as
close as 7 ft. I got a few photos. I watched it feed
and preen and even saw part of the orange patch on the
neck as it spread the feathers to preen that area.
Wow! Also, it called twice, softly, sort of a low
hoot both times.

- GREEN HERON - This latish bird was at Green Lake
Park in Seattle on 10/23, previously posted.

- PRAIRIE FALCON - 1 bird (or 2?) on Mt. Rainier
flying over the Spray Park area in the alpine, and
then later in the subalpine zone, Oct. 17. The second
time (or second bird?) was being harassed by a raven.

- LSR. YELLOWLEGS - 3 late birds at Crocket Lake on
Whidbey Isl. A really neat birding spot.

- WESTERN GULL - Previously reported, one at Green
Lake Park on Oct. 23.

- vireo sp. - Heard, not seen at Discovery Park on
Oct. 15. Robinlike song.

- WHITE-THROATED SPARROW - Saw 3 in the woods on DeLeo
Trail at Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park in
King Co.

Biggest miss: Hutton's Vireo, although I imagine that
I could have misID'd some as R.c. Kinglets. Also
Savannah Sparrow and Red-br. Sapsucker come to mind.

And for those of you who care, here is a list of all
the bird species that I saw or heard during the week,
with notes on some. Here they are, in taxonomic
order:

- Snow Goose, 100s over Skagit Flats, Oct. 20
- Canada Goose
- (Cackling Goose? - or small race of Canada? Flock
of 30 or so birds over Skagit Flats had dark breasts,
high pitched voices that sounded like Snow Geese to
me, rather than honking of the Canadas I know). Any
ideas?????
- TUNDRA SWAN
- Wood Duck

- Gadwall
- Am. Widgeon
- Mallard
- No. Shoveler
- No. Pintail

- Canvasback
- Ring-necked Duck
- scaup sp. - I guess I'm rusty at ID'ing these. At
least some at Union Bay NA/Montlake Fill were Greater.
I believe there were some Lessers in there). Had
scaup in other places, too.
- Harlequin Duck - These guys are beautiful.
- Surf Scoter - Most scoters were this species,
common.

- White-winged Scoter
- BLACK SCOTER
- Long-tailed Duck - Just 1, flying past Samish Island
Park on Samish Isl. in Skagit Co.
- Bufflehead
- BARROW'S GOLDENEYE

- Hooded Merganser
- Common Merganser
- Red-br. Merganser
- Ruddy Duck - Only a couple.
- Ruffed Grouse - 1 bird at Mt. Rainier

- BLUE GROUSE - killer looks
- Ring-necked Pheasant - May be released birds. I
heard two males at the Headquarters Unit of Skagit
Game Range on Fir Island in Skagit Co.
- California Quail - Flock of 7 at Discovery Park in
Seattle on 10/23
- Red-thr. Loon - 2 on Whidbey Isl., Oct. 21. Found
by other birders.
- Pacific Loon

- Common Loon
- Pied-billed Grebe - includes 1 juvenile at Green
Lake Park on Oct. 23
- Horned Grebe
- Red-necked Grebe
- Western Grebe

- Brandt's Cormorant - Only 1, on Whidbey Island in
mixed cormorant group
- Double-cr. Cormorant - Most cormorants were this
species
- Pelagic Cormorant
- Great Blue Heron - Quite common. Some were in
fields, which I don't believe I've ever seen before.
- GREEN HERON

- Turkey Vulture - 2 at Point No Point in Kitsap Co.
- Bald Eagle
- No. Harrier
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Cooper's Hawk

- Red-tailed Hawk
- Rough-legged Hawk - 2 at Skagit/Samish Flats. Great
raptor area. I wish I could go back in a few weeks
when there are Gyrfalcons around!
- American Kestrel
- Peregrine Falcon
- PRAIRIE FALCON

- American Coot
- Black-bellied Plover
- Killdeer
- Gr. Yellowlegs
- LSR. YELLOWLEGS

- Black Turnstone - Only 3 at City Beach Park in town
of Oak Harbor on Whidbey Isl.
- Sanderling
- Least Sandpiper
- Dunlin
- Long-billed Dowitcher

- Wilson's Snipe
- Bonaparte's Gull
- Heerman's Gull
- Mew Gull
- Ring-billed Gull

- California Gull
- Herring Gull
- WESTERN GULL
- Glaucous-winged Gull
- "Olympic Gull" - common

- Common Murre
- Pigeon Guillemot
- Rhinoceros Auklet
- Rock Pigeon
- Band-tailed Pigeon

- Mourning Dove
- Anna's Hummingbird - Only got a poor, brief look at
one at Discovery Park with the Audubon group, on Oct.
15.
- Belted Kingfisher
- Downy Woodpecker
- Hairy Woodpecker

- No. Flicker
- Pileated Woodpecker
- VIREO SP. - heard song
- Gray Jay - A few of these at Mt. Rainier NP were
tame and looking for a handout. I didn't give them
anything but I used the opportunity to get some nice
photos.
- Steller's Jay - some, almost always flying over

- crow sp. - I can't ID the crows I saw to species, as
I never made it inland to compare the coastal crows to
the inland ones. I did go to Mt. Rainier, but I never
saw any crows there. Almost all the crows that I saw
were small, some very much so, compared to the ones
back East. And most sounded hoarse and lower pitched,
with little variety in their calls, unlike the ones
that I know in the East.
- Common Raven
- Black-capped Chickadee - Certainly different than
the ones in the East. Gray backs have an olive tone
on Washington birds.
- Ches.-backed Chickadee
- Bushtit

- Red-br. Nuthatch
- Brown Creeper
- Bewick's Wren
- Winter Wren - Boy, these sure are common in Wash.
- Marsh Wren

- Golden-cr. Kinglet - Really common. Could be the
state bird, if you ever wanted to switch.
- Ruby-cr. Kinglet
- Hermit Thrush
- American Robin
- Varied Thrush - I've always wanted to see these. I
thought maybe I'd miss them but I saw several. In
fact, it was the first life bird that I had on the
trip, with 2 in Discovery Park on Oct. 15 in a large
robin flock. Common at Mt. Rainier.

- Eur. Starling
- Am. Pipit
- Cedar Waxwing
- Yellow-rumped Warbler - Not very many, and I never
got good looks so I don't even know which race I was
seeing. The only warbler I saw.
- Spotted Towhee - I like their Catbird like call.

- "Sooty" Fox Sparrow
- "Slate-colored" Fox Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Lincoln's Sparrow
- WHITE-THR. SPARROW

- White-cr. Sparrow
- Golden-cr. Sparrow
- "Oregon" Dark-eyed Junco
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Western Meadowlark - heard 1 singing on Fir Island

- Brewer's Blackbird
- Brown-hdd. Cowbird
- House Finch
- American Goldfinch
- Evening Grosbeak - I think I heard one, a flyover at
Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park in King Co.

- House Sparrow

I could have sworn I had several Sedge Wrens in the
Skagit Flats area but then I looked at the map in
Sibley, which doesn't show this species occuring on
the West Coast. I don't understand what I saw. These
birds looked too plain with patterned wings to be
Marsh Wrens.

Areas birded: Discovery Park, Seattle. Alki Beach
Park, Seattle. Mt. Rainier NP, Mowich Lake to Spray
Park Trail. "Montlake Fill" aka Union Bay Natural
Area, on edge of U W campus, Seattle. Point No Point,
Kitsap Co. Visitor Center area and entrance station
area of Olympic NP. Part of Samish and Skagit Flats,
Skagit Co. Central and Northern Whidbey Island,
Island Co. Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park,
King Co. Green Lake Park, Seattle.

I look forward to visiting the Pacific Northwest
again!

Scott Baron
Fairfax, Va.
brnpelican at yahoo dot com




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