Subject: [Tweeters] Good morning in our yard
Date: Apr 25 11:47:10 2006
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan - godwit513 at msn.com


Hello Tweets,

This morning between 8am-10:50am we enjoyed a nice morning in our yard with a small,but regular stream of spring migrants. The skies overhead began cool and clear,but then turned very cloudy by 9:30am,but conditions seemed good for migrants with some wind to help move the birds around. We encountered a total of 36 species during a sit/stand from our front yard,of which several species were observed as fly-overs or heard singing only. We had a nice assortment of species with many new additions to our 2006 yard list. Most noteworthy highlights began with a singing/calling HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER that remained very elusive during a 20 minute duration,which represented our 3rd personal record for our yard. Our second main highlight was a fly-over TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE observed flying south to north,which represented our 2nd personal sighting for our yard.

At times birds just kept moving through in groups or singly such as a steady stream of Yellow-rumped Warblers moving south to north with a total of 105 tallied during the morning watch. We also observed a nice movement of Sharp-shinned Hawks moving around with a total of 10 birds observed during a 45 minute duration,as well as 6-7 Red-tailed Hawks soaring overhead then eventually drifting off with the wind. Other notable species encountered this morning from our yard included the following:

1 Osprey
1 adult Cooper's Hawk
1 Killdeer(3rd personal yard record)
8 Caspian Terns
2 Band-tailed Pigeons
1 adult male Anna's Hummingbird
1 female Rufous Hummingbird
10-12 Violet-green Swallows
1 Barn Swallow
2 Bushtit(probably nesting pair that still use our suet feeder regularly)
2 singing Bewick's Wrens
10+ Ruby-crowned Kinglets
3 Orange-crowned Warblers
1 pair of Spotted Towhees
1 Song Sparrow
1 Red-winged Blackbird
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
1 Red Crossbill
1 Evening Grosbeak


In addition on the morning of the 23rd of April we had a female Varied Thrush that used our yard during her 2 week visit,but we believe she has migrated on to this date. Yesterday evening we also enjoyed an adult White-crowned Sparrow in our front yard,which was not noted this morning so perhaps that bird was a migrant too. We have White-crowned Sparrows in our area that presumably breed nearby on a regular basis,but yesterday's bird seemed different.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit513 at msn.com