Hello Tweets,

Today we enjoyed another nice day in our yard with a good assortment of bird species,although passerine movements were slight. A total of 42 species were tallied during the day wit the morning being overall best for passerines and the warmth of the afternoon being best for flyover raptors. We added 1 new yard species(of the 42 species for today)consisting of 2 Common Loons flying over heading northward during the cloudy morning. This is a species we wouldn't have normally expected,but in migration anything can happen and keeping a keen eye over our house was he most beneficial in spotting them. Away from the Common Loons our next highlight was a female NORTHERN HARRIER that flew northward,while scanning the clear afternoon skies and represented our 2nd personal record for our yard.

As mentioned passerine movement was slight today and very limited with fewer numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers noted than previous days. Our two main passerine migrants of the day began with an active HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER foraging during the early morning in an alder grove across our street. This bird also called a few times,then disappeared into thick cover of the foliage. Secondly,a flyover TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE observed during the early afternoon in almost the same manner as the bird we noted 2 days ago. A few nesting species of note from our yard include 2 pairs of Chestnut-backed Chickadees and a recent pair of Violet-green Swallows,of which both species using our nestboxes. Other yard highlights encountered during the day included the following:

3-4 Sharp-shinned Hawks
6+ Cooper's Hawks
10-12 Red-tailed Hawks
1 Merlin
3 Rock Pigeons(very uncommon in our immediate area and only observed as fly-overs)
8-10 Band-tailed Pigeons
2 Vaux's Swifts
2 adult male Anna's Hummingbirds
1 female Rufous Hummingbird
1 Tree Swallow(surprisingly very scarce for our yard)
20+ Violet-green Swallows
2 Barn Swallows
2 Hermit Thrushes
1 Varied Thrush(heard singing only)
2 Cedar Waxwings
4-5 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
2 Orange-crowned Warblers
20 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Spotted Towhee
2 White-crowned Sparrows(heard singing only)
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
1 male Purple Finch
3+ Red Crossbills
2+ Am.Goldfinches


Good birding,

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