Subject: [Tweeters] Sunday highlights from Snohomish and Whidbey
Date: Aug 28 10:11:08 2006
From: Cameron Cox - cameron_cox at hotmail.com


Greeting,

I poked around Snohomish county when crossed over to Whidbey for a great day
of birding on Sunday. Some of the highlights are listed below by location.

Stanwood WTP
Numerous ducks
1 Cinnamon Teal
5 Hooded Mergs (3 were recently fledged juvs)
1 Eared Grebe in basic plumage (very weird)
10 Long-billed Dowitchers (all adults and most were in full basic, the only
1 still in alternate plumage was molting its inner primaries.)
12 Red-necked Phalaropes (all juvs)
1 Bank Swallow (flew right over my head several times, juv)

Spencer Is.
1 very fresh juv Peregrine Falcon made a pass at the shorebirds
1 distant Evening Grosbeak was calling while passing overhead

I had planned to go to the eastside today but with the possibility of a
stint I had to check Spencer.
Several groups of peeps where flying around. From what I could hear, it
was about a 50/50 split between Western and Least, through Westerns were
much more visible on the mudflats. There is so much cover at this site that
refinding a single bird will be quite difficult.

Clinton Ferry
4 female Black Scoters at the ferry dock
6 Common Tern in a loose flock, all adults, clearly migrating.

Crockett Lake
20 Semipalmated Plovers
1 Greater Yellowlegs (only one!)
~500 Western Sandpipers
~200 Least Sandpipers
3-4 Semipalmated Sandpipers
1 Baird's Sandpiper
4 Short-billed Dowitchers

The peep where virtually all juvs. I saw a handful of adult Least and 2-3
adult Western Sandpipers, all of which were in full basic plumage. Zero
peeps in breeding plumage. 5-10% of the juv Westerns had already begun to
molt, replacing mantle and scapular feathers.

Penn Cove
13 Greater Yellowlegs
~50 Black Turnstones
A flock of 8 Surf Scoters flew by with a Rhino Auklet in their midst! I'm
use to seeing Razorbills in flocks of scoters on the East Coast but this was
the first time I had seen an alcid flying with scoters in Washington.

Bos Lake at Swantown
1 Redhead!
3 Greater Scaup
80 Western Sandpipers
30 Least Sandpipers
3 Baird's Sandpipers (great looks)
1 Pectoral Sandpiper
8 Long-billed Dowitchers
4 Short-billed Dowitchers
4 Red-necked Phalaropes

A great day of birding with 92 species in all.

Cameron Cox
Seattle, WA