Tweeters,

Yesterday, June 8, I was able to find both the BALTIMORE ORIOLE
at Marymoor Park in Redmond and the BAY-BREASTED WARBLER
east of Castle Rock. It's been a long time since I found two new birds
for my state list on the same day!

I arrived at Marymoor about 9:30 AM, after enduring the final stages
of the morning rush-hour traffic. Boy, that Interstate 405 is hell!
Anyway, I walked all the way down the trail along the Sammamish
River at Marymoor, as far as the lookout over Lake Sammamish,
without so much as a peep out of the oriole. On the way back, however,
just south of the south end of the dog off-leash area, opposite the
Rowing Club across the river, the bird sang about a dozen times or so
from high up in the cottonwoods. Although another birder spotted the
oriole for a second or so, I did not, and the bird then fall silent for at
least
an hour

Shortly before noon, Tom Reichert showed up, and we waited for 15
minutes or so in hopes that the bird would resume singing. Our wait was
rewarded, and we heard him singing loudly just to the east of us.
There were some red elderberry bushes with ripening fruit along the
trail right at the south end of the dog off-leash area, and the oriole must
have spent almost 20 minutes eating elderberries, singing frequently and
loudly as he did so. We got some excellent looks at the bird
("crippling views", as the British would say) in these bushes, which
are only about 15 feet high. There were many other birds feeding
periodically in the elderberries, including BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS,
AMERICAN ROBINS, a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER, and a flock
of 19 BAND-TAILED PIGEONS. For anyone wanting to get good looks at
the oriole, I would recommend staking out the elderberries. The oriole is
much easier to see there than when he's singing high up in the
cottonwoods.

I then motored down to Cowlitz County to look for the BAY-BREASTED WARBLER,
arriving at the intersection of Weyerhaeuser's
Roads 1901 and 1909 about 4:30 PM. The bird could not be seen or
heard for half an hour, during which I wandered a short distance down
Road 1909. However, about 5:00 PM he began singing, close to the
intersection and on the south side of Road 1901. After 10 minutes of singing
(which, at least for me, was hard to hear more than 100 feet away), he
stopped, and I still had not seen him! However, he began again a few
minutes later, and with a bit of effort, I got a brief but satisfactory look
at
him feeding close to the trunks of the small trees (as is typical for
Bay-breasted). He then flew across Road 1901 and disappeared
into the conifers there, still singing frequently, He did not, as a couple
of
other birders I met at Marymoor claimed, sing "from the tops of the trees"--
getting a good look at him was a challenge, but it should be possible
for anyone with a bit of patience.

Periods of intermittent drizzle began about 5:30, and then began to be
constant by 6:00. Still hoping to get a better look, I finally left about
6:30,
only to find that, five miles west on State Route 504 from the turnoff into
the St. Helens Tree Farm, it wasn't drizzling at all and the road wasn't
even damp! Oh, well...

Good luck to anyone who tries to find the oriole or the warbler over the
next few days, and thanks to everyone so far who has posted their reports on
Tweeters!

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net