Tweets,
I had an excellent birthday trip to Whidbey Island yesterday August 31.
Four of us, Dick Johnson, Cate Hopkinson and Diane Mulholland took the
Keystone Ferry from Port Townsend.
On the way over there was a nice selection of birds in the rip tide. The
best was a Pomarine Jaeger which we all had fair look at. It was Cate's
500th life bird and I think was new for Diane also. We drove up to Swantown
looking for the Baird's Sandpiper. No luck on that but we saw 2 alternate
Common Loons and an alternate Red-throated Loon as well as two dingy
Red-necked Grebes ( and another at the lookout at the west end of Hastie
Lake Road).
A stop at Fort Ebey State Park revealed a perched Great Horned Owl being
pestered by the small birds nearby and we got great scope looks at it and
then it flew a short distance and could be seen near by in the scopes again.
That was another year bird for me.
Two stops at Penn Cove were both too full of water for shorebirds. but
there was an apparent tidal bore on the afternoon stop.
The Stilt Sandpiper was towards the east end of Crockett Lake in with
the only few Short-billed Dowitchers we saw for the day. It appeared to be a
juvenile. There was a roosting or resting flock of Caspian Terns and
California Gulls nearby with the only large flock of Western Sandpipers we
saw for the day.
Three year birds and three Island Life Birds for me followed by a prime
rib. One of nicest of the many birthadays that I can remember.
Bob Norton
norton36 at olypen.com
Joyce (near Port Angeles), WA