Hello,

I'm going to be visiting the Seattle area from 6/19 to 6/29.
It's officially a business trip, but the business part of the
trip is going to last all of three hours on 6/20, and then I get
to visit family and friends and go birding for a week or so.
Unfortunately, the last-minute nature of the trip is leaving me
with less time to do research and plan than I'd like. I picked
up a copy of Hal Opperman's _A Birder's Guide to Washington_
yesterday, so I do have some information to work with. I find
books of that sort to be a combination of too much information
and at the same time, too little. I find it hard to make choose
which of all the wonderful-sounding locations to go to,
especially when the text mostly talks about seeing birds at
other times of the year, not now. So, I'm looking for help with
a couple of things. First, if there's anyone who would be
available in the morning on a weekday, I'd love to have some
company while birding. Second, if you were going to pick one or
two places for a visitor from the east to go to at this time of
year, what would they be? I'm already planning on going on
Westport Seabirds' 6/24 trip and I'm probably going to go up to
Hurricane Ridge one day. I've done some birding in the area in
the past, but it has always been the type of birding that was
squeezed in around other people's plans, so what I've seen has
been very patchy, and all of it was a long time ago, so even the
western species that I've seen before would be satisfying to see
again. I'm also seriously considering taking one day to go
further east since I've never had any opportunity at all to bird
on the east side of the Cascades. I'm going to be spending the
first two nights at a hotel in downtown Seattle and I won't have
a car those two days. Any recommendations for where I could go
on foot for a couple of hours of birding after I arrive and in
the morning before my business meeting?

Some target species:
(I'm leaving out the pelagic species. I know what I'm doing
about them.)

Brandt's Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Cinnamon Teal
Ferruginous Hawk
White-tailed Ptarmigan
Mountain Quail
California Quail
Black Oystercatcher
Band-tailed Pigeon
Western Screech-Owl
Northern Pygmy Owl
Common Poorwill
Black Swift
Vaux's Swift
White-throated Swift
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Anna's Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Willaimson's Sapsucker
Red-naped Sapsucker
Red-breasted Sapsucker
White-headed Woodpecker
Three-toed Woodpecker
Black-backed Woodpecker
Western Wood-Pewee
various western empidonax flycatchers
Cassin's Vireo
Hutton's Vireo
Western Scrub-jay
Western Bluebird
Hermit Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Black-headed Grosbeak
Gray-crowned Rosy-finch
Pine Grosbeak

Other species that look less likely from what I've read, but
that I'd love to see if someone knows where to find them within
a reasonable distance:
Yellow-billed Loon
Clark's Grebe
White-faced Ibis
Gray Partridge
Greater Sage-Grouse
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Flammulated Owl
Spotted Owl
Great Gray Owl
Boreal Owl
Acorn Woodpecker
Sage Thrasher
Brewer's Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Tri-colored Blackbird

Rock Sandpiper, Surfbird and a few other shorebirds are on my
want-list, but it looks like the possibility of seeing them at
the end of June is almost non-existent. is that right? Is there
any reasonable chance of finding a Golden-crowned Sparrow at
this time of year?

Obviously, non-eastern rarities wood be nice too. I guess a
Hooded Oriole is reasonable to look for, since I see repeated
reports of one.

Thank-you for any advice and suggestions you can give.

--
Katrina Knight
kknight at epix.net
Reading, PA