Hi Tweets,

I went to Vashon Island today looking for the SNOW BUNTING that has been at
Pt. Robinson this past month or so. To my surprise I found two of them. I
checked Tweeters archives and only saw mention of one being seen previously.
They were in the same place as usual ? on the upper beach and on driftwood
along the north part of the beach, just north of the lighthouse. I first
found them around noon as they foraged in close proximity to each other
along the upper tideline. They rested briefly on a log before resuming their
feeding. They appeared to be females or first winter males ? I?d guess the
former. One had slightly more white in the wings, but it wasn?t extensive.
My thanks to Ed Swan for keeping us up to date on the bunting sightings.

On the road between the upper and lower parking areas at Pt. Robinson there
was a SLATE-COLORED JUNCO with some Oregonians and in the woods above the
point I saw two TOWNSEND?S WARBLERS loosely associated with a flock of
kinglets.

Just north of Dockton Park, at the intersection of Dockton Rd. and S. 266th
I spotted a MERLIN on a snag. Getting a good scope study I watched for about
10-15 minutes as it preened. It was nearing Black Merlin in coloration, but
despite the extensively dark underparts (looking pale streaked on a dark
background) it showed a fairly long, uninterrupted supercilium and pale tail
bands. Thus, I would place it at the darker end of ?Columbarius? Merlin, if
forced to put a subspecies name to it.

Waterbirds were present in moderate numbers and diversity, with no unusual
numbers of anything. From the ferry I saw four BRANT well off the north end
of the island, which surprised me. I?m not used to seeing them that far
offshore.


Good birding,

Jim Flynn
buteoreg at comcast.net
Seattle, WA

--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.14.21/236 - Release Date: 1/20/2006