Dear Tweeters,

Yesterday at the Fir Island Game Range was a huge
flock of Oregon Juncoes, along with lots of other
sparrows. The highlight for me was an AMERICAN TREE
SPARROW.

This flock was in the first field beyond the
boat-launch parking lot, reached via a half-submerged
plank over a ditch. Among at least 250 Oregon Juncoes
were two SLATE-COLORED JUNCOES, a WHITE-THROATED
SPARROW, and a big flock of White-crowned Sparrows
(all apparently birds of the year). There were also
lots of Song Sparrows and quite a few Golden-crowned,
plus a scattering of Lincoln's. I tried and tried to
find some Swamp Sparrows to make it an 8-sparrow day,
but no luck.

Brian Bell and I also heard an odd chip a few times in
that area; it might have been the Northern
Waterthrush, but we were not sure.

One promising spot for Swamp Sparrows might be the
fields reached from the dike trail just past the
Headquarters parking lot. A few stamped-down way
trails lead down into this field, which is on the left
("inside") as one passes through the gate, onto the
dike trail, heading out from the HQ area. I saw lots
of Song and Lincoln's Sparrows there.

Continuing out from there, just before the junction
with the trails to the left and out to the outer dike,
a large flock of Purple Finches (25 +) got me hopeful
for redpolls for a moment. Right in the same area, a
flock of at least eight larger finches caught my eye.
A gunshot scattered them, but a few minutes later, I
got decent looks at two PINE GROSBEAKS. Another party
also reported seeing two or three. I suspect the eight
birds were also Pine Grosbeaks.





Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com


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