Hi Tweets,

I need to photograph some Juncos to accompany an article. Would
appreciate it if someone could share locations (Seattle, Everett, Eastside) where I
could find them on a regular basis. Please send replies directly to my email listed below.

Thanks in advance,

Ginger Holser
gholser at yahoo.com


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Today's Topics:

1. Black-headed Gull update (Ian Paulsen)
2. Grand Coulee area birding and more (Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan)
3. Spokane Bird Alert Dec 20, 2006 (craigco)
4. Moth and bird article (Rachel)
5. Escaped Harris Hawk (JERRY D AND MARCENE D'ADDIO)
6. Black-headed Gull seen til sunset on B.I. (. KDB .)
7. Grant County Birding, 12/20/06 (Michael Woodruff)
8. Long-billed Murrelet - No (Jack Stephens)
9. King Eider (Kristin Stewart)
10. ELWAS CBC Interim Results (Hugh Jennings)
11. Am Black Duck (SGMlod at aol.com)
12. Request for use of Kevin Li photo (David Dawson, On The Wing)
13. RBA: Portland, OR 12-21-06 (Harry Nehls)
14. FW: [Birdtalk] Whooping Cranes Journey Safely (Peter Sullins)
15. CNN article on European bird migration . . . or lack thereof.
(Ned McGarry)


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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 14:19:08 -0800 (PST)
From: Ian Paulsen
Subject: [Tweeters] Black-headed Gull update
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Message-ID:

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

HI:
Brad Waggoner just called me to let me know that the Black-headed Gull is
still there now! The gull can be seen from the vacant lot with the old
chimney on it which is south of the dock. Park at the vacant lot and
walk down towards the water. The bird is still being seen from the south
and east sides of the fish pen.

--

Ian Paulsen
Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
A.K.A.: "Birdbooker"
"Rallidae all the way!"


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 18:47:37 -0800
From: "Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan"
Subject: [Tweeters] Grand Coulee area birding and more
To: ,
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hello Birders,

Yesterday(December 19th)we spent all day birding in the Grand Coulee area of northern Grant Co. The weather was very cold and crisp,but good in the sense that there was no snow,wind,etc. to hamper any birding. We did encounter some morning fog. It was a very enjoyable time all day with many highlights within the 68 species we encountered. We began the day by owling up Northrup Canyon,which began our day well with a total of 5 species of owls. The trail beyond the main gate near the parking area was covered by thick ice along most of the open areas,but underneath the trees the trail was ice free. Here,the main owl highlight was a cooperative BARRED OWL perched very close to the trail in a tall Ponderosa Pine tree at the first forested area along the trail north of the main gate. The Barred Owl was a somewhat unexpected species for this location,although it would be considered to be encountered here at some point! The bird never called and just perched about 10 feet up in the!
tree,as a Northern Saw-whet Owl and Long-eared Owl called nearby. A list of our entire owl list for Northrup Canyon follows below:

1 Barn Owl
2 Great Horned Owls
1 BARRED OWL
2 Long-eared Owl
3 Northern Saw-whet Owls

Back in Grand Coulee and after a nice,hot breakfast we assembled back out into the field with our first stop of the day being at the lower part of the Grand Coulee Dam. Here,we located 2 AM.DIPPERS along the south shore of nearest the dam,as we stood within safe areas due to high security. As we watched the Am.Dippers 2 THAYER'S GULLS flew in from an unknown location,then 3 Herring Gulls joined them from above the dam. We then proceeded on and scoured the housing area near Grand Coulee Dam,then we continued onto south from the dam to north portion of Grand Coulee. The first hour of our day was very slow and quite unproductive,as far as finding most songbirds and passerines due to rather dark conditions. Conditions greatly improved once we arrived to Electric City,then as we arrived to the Sunbanks Resort a large flock of 600 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS filled the tops of several trees within the park area. The birds called loudly and allowed good scope views for several minutes befor!
e flying off to the main portion of Electric City. It was quite a sight to see since it was a species we had anticipated seeing on this trip! While walking the grounds of the Sunbank's Resort we located our first of two immature NORTHERN GOSHAWKS of the day,then a brief encounter with a SWAMP SPARROW along the marshy edges of the lake. The Swamp Sparrow offered great,but too brief of views but nonetheless was a great bird to see at this location! A single pure "Yellow-shafted"Northern Flicker was also observed at the Sunbank's Resort,as well as 15 "Red-shafted"Northern Flickers.

By 8:30am the sun began to really shine trough the clouds and birding really picked up. After birding the Sunbank's Resort thoroughly we headed south along S.R.155 across Osborn Bay. We then birded the north side of the Grand Coulee Golf Course,including the thick,brushy area north and west of the golf course. Here,we located several more highlights to add to our day's list including our second NORTHERN GOSHAWK of the day,then a LONG-EARED OWL, 9 COMMON REDPOLLS, 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a single GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW,and a single BEWICK'S WREN!

After trekking allover the brushy area north of the Grand Coulee Golf Course we continued south and scoped the portion of Banks Lake visible from outside the Grand Coulee Airport. Here,we located our first Common Loon of the day,as well as hundreds and Am.Coots that dotted the lakeshore. Good numbers of Horned Grebes were also encountered at this location,but very few waterfowl species. Our main highlights from this location however were a single PACIFIC LOON and a single female RED-BREASTED MERGANSER(amongst good numbers of Common Mergansers). We proceeded onwards and before heading back further south in our area we drove to the end of the road that continues south from the golf course. Here,we located 14 AM.TREE SPARROWS in the brushy area at the end of the road near the edge of the frozen lakeshore. It was great sighting and a species we really didn't expect so that added to the excitement! These birds were very bright and distinctive and offered great,close scope
views,a!
s they moved from bush to bush.

We continued south and made a quick visit to the location where we had a Hoary Redpoll several years ago. Although we didn't see any redpolls of any kind we were happy to see 10 GRAY PARTRIDGES along the edge of the road! The remainder of our day was somewhat slow,but after making a quick stop at the extreme south end of area then working our way back north we added 3 more species at one location! These species began with an adult Northern Shrike followed by a HAIRY WOODPECKER,then a flyover Rough-legged Hawk all along S.R.155 north of Eagle Rock. We ended the day back in the Grand Coulee Dam area,where a single adult GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL was located above Grand Coulee Dam resting with a good number of Herring Gulls. 2 Common Loons were also noted at this location from an overlook above the dam. Our last species of the day was a Merlin perched atop a poplar tree in Grand Coulee south of S.R.155.



Today(December 20th)we birded 2 hours in the Grand Coulee area before heading home. We started by checking the upper portion of town near S.R.174 with very slow conditions. We drove many of the side streets,where we have had good results in past years and had good sightings only along Garner Ave. We drove a short portion of this primitive road,then walked a better portion downhill since the road was quite icy,but still drivable. Near the bottom of the road were a gathering of 18 WILD TURKEYS with a few of the birds calling,as they worked in and amongst the understory of tall evergreen trees near the road. As we worked our way back uphill an immature NORTHERN GOSHAWK hunted areas along the ridge below several homes,which was our third NORTHERN GOSHAWK for the trip. The bird soon disappeared then after 5 minutes reappeared and landed for a few seconds atop a large evergreen tree along the road before flying westward. A flock of 13 PINE SISKINS and a BEWICK'S WREN were also
not!
ed at this location.

Back in downtown Grand Coulee we ran into Michael Woodruff and his birding friend from Spokane(and Montana),where we exchanged sightings and enjoyed some nice conversation for a few minutes. Michael alerted us to the presence of a Mew Gull at the Coulee Playland Park area near Electric City. We parted ways and went straight there and easily located the adult MEW GULL as it associated with several slightly larger Ring-billed Gulls. It was a great bird to see at this location and thanks to Michael again for letting us know about it!

We worked our way home and the further south we went the fogger it became. A single RICHARDSON'S CANADA GOOSE was located amongst a flock of Lesser Canada Geese along S.R.155 in Banks Lake just south of Steamboat Rock State Park. Next, 15 Cedar Waxwings were noted amongst a large flock of Starlings and a Am.Robins near Oasis Park at Ephrata along S.R.17. Our last two species of our trip were a single female LONG-TAILED DUCK at Vantage followed by a ROCK WREN perched on a fence post along Huntzinger Rd. south of Wanapum State Park. The Long-tailed Duck was observed from the boat launch area amongst a flock of Greater Scaup just north of the I-90 bridge.



Good birding,

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





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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 19:29:39 -0800
From: "craigco" <2cbird at hughes.net>
Subject: [Tweeters] Spokane Bird Alert Dec 20, 2006
To: "Inland NW Birders" , "Tweeters"

Message-ID: <458995DB000189F9 at n120.sc0.he.tucows.com> (added by
postmaster at bouncemessage.net)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Dec 20, 2006
This is a summary of the interesting birds reported in Spokane County during
the past two weeks.

There are a few flocks of COMMON REDPOLLS around, but they wander so you
must be lucky. 15 were on Tower Mountain on Dec 7, 10 were along the
Spokane River at 7 mile Dec 17, 90 were on Mt Spokane Dec 17, & 15 on Mt
Spokane Dec 20, at the Condos. The Condos on Mt Spokane are private
property & you need to ask permission each trip at the office in the 700
building.

I've not had many BOHEMIAN WAXWING reports. 70 were on Mt Spokane Dec 17.
40 were at Waverly Dec 15. The Cheney flock is only about 25 this year.
It's usually several hundred. Try the high area near the water towers.

There haven't been any Spokane Co CLARK'S NUTCRACKER reports this season.
The British Columbia CBC's are finding high numbers of them.

One or two SNOWY OWLS have been found in the West Plains of Spokane Co. The
latest one was 2 miles north of Hwy 2 and a mile east of the county line.


The 7 Fairfield EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES continue to be seen near the
Elevators (try Railroad Street). They are sometimes not seen.

At least 5 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS have been reported in December.

A LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN was at the Confluence of the Little Spokane River
Dec 19.

Scoping the far (Spokane) side of the Spokane River at Tum Tum Dec 19
produced a flock of 130 AMERICAN WIGEON & over 100 PIED-BILLED GREBES. Also
a pair of BALD EAGLES was putting finishing touches on their nest.
(carrying grass to the nest).

A TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE was in Medical Lake Dec 17. A few winter, but they
seem to be pretty rare.

A HERRING GULL was at Liberty Lake Dec 14. Since the Spokane Landfill
closed many years ago, Herring Gulls have been hard to find in the county.

Good Birding,
CraigCorder
Cheney
mailto:2cbird at hughes.net





------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 19:33:52 -0800
From: "Rachel"
Subject: [Tweeters] Moth and bird article
To:
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

My daughter sent me this link to an article about a strange kind of
moth-bird parasitism in Madagascar. It's very interesting, if a little
bit creepy.

Rachel Lawson
Seattle
RachelWL at msn.com


http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10826
s20> &feedId=online-news_rss20
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Message: 5
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 20:30:55 -0800
From: "JERRY D AND MARCENE D'ADDIO"
Subject: [Tweeters] Escaped Harris Hawk
To:
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I did see the King Eider on Sat. 11/15. I escaped my cold house for the weekend and headed to Blaine to find the King Eider. So obliging - "first duck on the right". It was interesting to watch him swim, dive, eat, up on the float, back on the water...

After leaving Semiahmoo, my husband spotted a hawk with leathers on the "ankles". We turned the car around and I id'ed it as a Harris Hawk. I've seen several in AZ and the rusty shoulders, dark chocolate body with white rump - couldn't be anything else. One very close up at the Sonoran Desert Museum. The bird then flew. It was on a wire on Shintaffer Rd between Drayton Harbor Rd and Lincoln Road. I thought someone might be hoping to hear about its location. I was not able to post until today as I was "powerless".

Marcy D'Addio
Redmond, WA
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Message: 6
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 20:45:37 -0800
From: ". KDB ."
Subject: [Tweeters] Black-headed Gull seen til sunset on B.I.
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

yup!

Keith Brady
Olympia, WA

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Message: 7
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 21:49:45 -0800
From: "Michael Woodruff"
Subject: [Tweeters] Grant County Birding, 12/20/06
To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Garrett MacDonald and I ventured into Grant County today (12/20/06) for a
fine day of winter birding on the 3rd shortest day of the year. Skies were
mostly clear with no wind all day, while temperatures ranged from upper
teens to upper twenties.

We started out at the Coulee Playland Marina in Electric City where we
checked the gulls on the log booms. Most were Ring-billed and Herring, but
we had one adult MEW GULL. We drove and walked the streets to the south
where we found a large flock of 200+ BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS. A DOWNY WOODPECKER
sounded off while we worked the area.

Not long after, we bumped into Patrick and Ruth Sullivan who informed us of
some good birds of yesterday's Grand Coulee CBC. After parting company, we
birded the Southbanks Resort just outside of Electric City. As soon as we
pulled up, we spotted a juvenile NORTHERN GOSHAWK in the shrubbery just in
time to obtain scope views before it powered away. Within minutes, we also
saw a COOPER'S HAWK and a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, finishing off the accipiters!
Sullivans had seen a Swamp Sparrow here, but we were unable to relocate this
bird. Along the entrance road, we saw 1 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, 1 VARIED
THRUSH, and quite a few American Robins.

As we got out of the car in Northrup Canyon, a flock of 30 COMMON REDPOLLS
flew over headed out towards the lake. Soon afterward, we had a feeding
flock consisting of multiple Black-capped Chickadees, Red-breasted
Nuthatches, Golden-crowned Kinglets, and several BROWN CREEPERS. We
searched good roost trees for owls, and finally had crippling views of a
slumbering NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL in a dense fir. It didn't seem to mind us
taking turns firing away with our cameras.

We looked around the airport near Electric City for sparrows, but only came
up with a NORTHERN SHRIKE. We decided to go back to Southbanks Resort again
to try to find the Swamp Sparrow, but without luck. Instead, we saw a
1st-year PACIFIC LOON just offshore with a large flock of coots!

We worked our way down Banks Lake. A large flock of Common Mergansers had
at least 16 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, mostly adult males. We also had a
couple COMMON LOONS and two large floats of REDHEADS.

On Hwy 17 just south of Dry Falls Dam, we had a PRAIRIE FALCON on a
telephone pulls. Sun Lakes SP was pretty dead, but we did have 21 RUDDY
DUCKS in the bay. We drove down as far as the southern end of Lake Lenore,
but didn't find anything of interest. Most of the lakes were frozen. Then
it was back up to Steamboat Rock SP. We were unable to locate any
Long-eared Owls in the russian olives, and the campground was also pretty
dead.

We found ourselves back up at Grand Coulee Dam just before sunset, where a
MERLIN waited on a spruce. We also spotted an AMERICAN DIPPER below the
dam, thanks to the Sullivans for the tip.

We decided to go owling after dark back up Northrup Canyon. Upon arriving
in the area we had contacts with at least 5 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS, complete
with various renditions of barks, whines, squeals, and regular tooting. We
had a number of fabulous spotlight views. Fun stuff! We finished up with
two GREAT HORNED OWLS before we thawed out back in the car.

We ended up with a tally of 60 species, all in Grant County. Can't think of
a better way to spend a day!

Michael Woodruff
Spokane, WA

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------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 22:01:43 -0800
From: "Jack Stephens"
Subject: [Tweeters] Long-billed Murrelet - No
To: "Tweeters"
Message-ID: <000101c724c5$80a2d220$6401a8c0 at jack806f17b9bc>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I spent a couple of hours at Point-No-Point today, without any luck with
the Long-billed Murrelet. It's interesting how searching for a rarity
opens your eyes to the commoner species, so I learned a lot about basic
plumage for Marbled Murrelet, Ancient Murrelet, Common Murre, etc., but
I dipped on the target LBMU.

Jack Stephens
jstephens62 at comcast.net
Edmonds, WA
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Message: 9
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 22:02:40 -0800
From: "Kristin Stewart"
Subject: [Tweeters] King Eider
To:

=== message truncated ===


Ginger Holser