Dear Tweeters,

Today (December 24, 2006) there were at least 50
COMMON REDPOLLS at the Van Horn Ponds, east of
Concrete (Skagit County). This site is between
Rockport and Concrete, just east of the sharp turnoff
for Moen Road. Besides a mixed flock of about 50
Redpolls and 50 Pine Siskins, there was also a flock
of about 250 unidentified Carduelis finches that moved
on.

Above Concrete at Everett Lake, I heard more redpolls,
though did not see any. There was also a dark Merlin
up there, perhaps shadowing the flocks of finches.

Since there were hundreds of Common Redpolls seen on
the North Cascades CBC last weekend, and now there are
more turning up in the Concrete area, I suspect that
an invasion is afoot, at least in the Upper Skagit
Valley.

Down in Concrete itself, a WESTERN SCRUB JAY turned
up, much to my surprise. This was along Main Street,
across the street from the dilapidated old office of
Lone Star Cement, near a sign that says "Clinker
Club." This is just north of the intersection of Main
Street (actually West Main) and Nellie Lane, only a
few hundred yards NE of the intersection of Superior
Avenue and SR 20. The bird called a few times,
perched atop various trees, and associated with a
flock of seven or eight Steller's Jays. The jays were
flying around some trees lining Nellie Lane, where
there were quite a few passerines feeding on downed
apples.




Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com