Today, Penny Koyama, Steve Dang, Andrey Varlamov, and I birded around
Spencer Island. It was relatively quiet, but there were LOTS of
swallows. Most of them were TREE and VIOLET-GREEN, but there were at
least 4 BARN, 2 NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED, and 1 CLIFF SWALLOW. There were
very few ducks, but we did see at least one pair of CINNAMON TEAL, and,
other than a couple of KILLDEER, no shorebirds (though there was 1
GREATER YELLOWLEGS there on 4/6).

An update on Spencer Island access: The road from the STP office to the
small parking lot closest to the bridge onto the island is open, though
there still is a lot of truck traffic and construction going on. The
bridge on the cross dike is open. The bridge on the far end of the
southern loop, near where the path joins the cross dike, is not up yet,
so it's still not possible to walk around the whole loop. Apparently,
the bridge was supposed to arrive in November, but Katrina messed up the
schedule; it should arrive within the next couple of months. I wonder
why it is better to have a bridge shipped here from the East than build
it here!

Rachel Lawson
Seattle
RachelLawson at softhome.net