Hello All

South of Marsh Rd (near Snohomish) on WA-9, there was an Emperor Goose on the
w. side of the road. This area has had a nice mixed swan flock for a month
plus, and with the swans, have been some Moffitt Canada Geese and Taverner's
Cackling Geese. Today, there was an adult Emperor apparently paired with an
adult GWF Goose. There were 12 other white-fronts in the vicinity, and this pair
loosely associated with them, but definitely stuck closer to each other than
the rest of the flock. Hybridization between these species has been known to
occur in the wild.

There were also 75+ Taverner's Cackling (but no minima) Geese in the area and
a couple hundred big Canadas.

There are two pull offs of WA9, headed southbound, from which one can view
this flock. Be careful. The pull offs are not huge and traffic is heavy and
fast.

Regarding House Wren ID, Dennis Paulson is exactly correct. Western Marsh
Wrens, especially imms, are substantially duller than those in the east, and they
have a greater propensity to venture into fields, blackberry brambles, and
other habitats one would usually not associate with Marsh Wrens if you were
living near Chicago or Boston.

Cheers
Steven Mlodinow
Everett WA