Tweets:

Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, June 21, Tom Aversa and I birded TNC's Port
Susan Bay site from about 4:00 to 5:30. The diked enclosure had very little
water and the exposed mud was drying rapidly, to the detriment of waterfowl
and shorebird habitat. We found practically no ducks (a few GADWALLS and
even fewer MALLARDS) and a thin shorebird contingent including five
(possibly more) WILSON'S PHALAROPES, a few GREATER YELLOWLEGS, one WESTERN
SANDPIPER, a SPOTTED SANDPIPER, and -- noteworthy for the date -- two
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS and a SEMIPALMATED PLOVER.

You had to look up, not down, for the highlight of the day. The cloudless
blue sky was filled with BLACK SWIFTS, foraging at heights ranging from as
low as 10 or 15 feet to many hundreds of feet and spread out all along the
flats of the Stillaguamish delta. With so many birds swirling so swiftly an
accurate count was impossible -- a bird could come into view then vanish out
of sight range in 20 or 30 seconds. Tom was able to count 150 birds at one
time, but this probably represented no more than half of the flock and
perhaps considerably less.

There is no way of telling, of course, but these birds might have comprised
the bulk of the breeding population in the mountains between Darrington and
Monte Cristo, at the headwaters of the Stillaguamish in eastern Snohomish
County. Although Port Susan was in full sunlight, heavy clouds obscured the
peaks to the east. Their snowy peaks are visible from here on a clear day.

Hal Opperman
Medina, Washington
hal at catharus.net