Subject: [Tweeters] Skagit swans, White-fronted Goose, jaegers
Date: Sep 5 18:20:47 2005
From: Gary Bletsch - garybletsch at yahoo.com


Dear Tweeters,

Keith Wiggers alerted me to an interesting waterfowl
flock in Lyman today (9-05-05), so I went over to
check it out. There on sandbars in the Skagit River
were over 100 Canada Geese, as well as one juvenile
Greater White-fronted Goose. There were also lots of
Mallards, the drakes beginning to show their chestnut
breasts. In the flock were also some Wood Ducks,
Green-winged Teal, and a couple of Pied-billed Grebes,
one of which flew a hundred meters or so. Perhaps most
surprisingly of all the waterfowl there were three
Tundra Swans. I don't think I have seen them so early
before.

Down in Edison were a few Short-billed Dowitchers, a
Greater Yellowlegs, a couple of Lesser Yellowlegs, and
a few Killdeer. It was pretty quiet for shorebirding.

At the Samish Island Public Beach and Picnic Area
(DNR) there were not very many seabirds in view, but I
did see a couple of jaegers. One was definitely a dark
Parasitic Jaeger; it lit on the water and floated
about for a while, looking forlorn at the lack of
smaller larids to attack.

Another jaeger there really gave me pause. I am not
going to call it a Pomarine, but it looked big, and it
was boldly patterned in black and white, with a
bold-looking dark breast bar. It flew by quite fast,
rather far out, and did not do much in the way of
manoeuvres. Unfortunately, I could not get a good look
at the bill, or the exact pattern of the wings. The
wings had bold white flashes, though--more white than
on the Parasitic that sat on the water.

Besides these exciting birds, there was also a single
Common Tern. A few minutes earlier, I saw a few birds
that could have been Common Terns, but they flew off
around the corner to the left before I could ID them.
Common Terns are about as hard to find as jaegers in
Skagit County--certainly not common birds here. Other
birds in view there were three Surf and one
White-winged Scoter, a few Common Loons and Red-necked
Grebes, and three Pigeon Guillemots.

Finally, a Green Heron has been hanging out in Etach
Slough, which is along the rails-to-trails, east of
Lyman, about halfway between Healy Road and Cockreham
Island Road. This bird can be viewed from
Lyman-Hamilton Road. It stays just east of a beaver
dam. The Wiggers saw two other Green Herons to the
west of Lyman today, near Minkler Lake, so it has been
a good day for Green Herons around here.


Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com