Hi all,

The final sprint-to-the-finish is beginning in the 3RD ANNUAL Western Washington YardBirdRace & new records are guaranteed in cities, towns & counties throughout the region.

Bathing HUTTON?S VIREOS have helped CHRISTINE SOUTHWICK to 53, already edging out the old mark for SHORELINE. Southwick also reports several Yard-nesting-birds including a BARRED OWL pair.

In other vireo-related news a CASSIN?s VIREO is one of 73 on ALAN HUGGINS pace-setting list from Vashon Island. With a SNOW GOOSE & AMERICAN KESTREL, Huggins seems safely on course toward a new Vashon mark.

There?s racing action in Redmond, WA where the old mark of 55 is being chased by ERIN & BILL WOODS with 53 as of 6/1/2006 and GRACE OLIVER with 51 as of 9/8/2006. Erin & Bill have a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW & 2 Owls, Oliver has a PINE SISKIN and BLACK SWIFT. MIKE WILE, also of Kirkland, got off to a great start, and may still be in the hunt. (So far, YardBirdRace in a philosophical recognition of it?s own intrinsic unfairness as a ?competition,? has been able to award prizes to all participants.)

Ditto for Bellevue, WA, where CHRISTY ANDERSON & LOU ANN HARRIS, as of last report, were both at 42. Harris has snagged a TRUMPETER SWAN flyover & a CASSIN?S VIREO and Anderson reports a WESTERN WOOD PEWEE & HAIRY WOODPECKER. BRIAN PENDLETON, last year?s Bellevue winner working out of a workplace, is also in the race.

In Seattle news Green Lake is newly on the YardBirdRacing Map as BILL MORRIS has 40 there including WILLOW FLYCATCHER.

The U-District is assured of being the proud owner of a hard-to-beat new YBR record as BRETT WOLFE has 39 inc. a PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER. Tied at 39 with Wolfe in yard-type Urban is MATT DUFORT which guarantees Wallingford a new mark including WESTERN WOOD PEWEE

There are a sprinkling of Glamour birds in this year?s lists with CATHY CONOLLY again recording an increasingly famous HOODED ORIOLE in Magnolia. So-called COMMON NIGHTHAWKS are on a few lists, as is a svelte LEWIS?S WOODPECKER on the list now at 66 by GENE STAGNER in Tacoma. Gene also has a MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE and Stagners list assures Tacoma of a hard-to-beat new YBR record.

Speaking of glamour birds a SANDHILL CRANE obligingly flew over & a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD hopped onto the yard of JEANNE MARRAZZO/JO HOFFMAN in Upper Rainier Beach which will again by a contender for R Seattle with 56.

Meanwhile, the suspense is on as many lists are very near or tying old records. With 51, JIM FLYNN/MARISSA BENAVENTE are very near the West Seattle Residential Yard-type record of 53 and they have (unfortunately!) a genuine Seattle glamour bird in the WESTERN SCREECH OWL.

AMY COLE at 42 was already within the 3 of the record in Madrona by this May 15. Cole had a TOWNSEND?S WARBLER, TREE SWALLOW, & OLIVE-SIDED FLLYCATCHER by then.

Also last reporting in May, CATHERINE ALEXANDER had tied the Lakewood, Seattle record of 39 with an AMERICAN KESTREL among others. RACHEL LAWSON of Lower Queen Anne is also tied with the old mark as of May and YardBirdRace officials cautiously anticipate new records in these neighborhoods by the end of the year.

But wait, this is beginning to sound a little SEATTLE-CENTRIC.

In far-off Wahkiakum County, ANDREW EMLEN, the originater of the Acreage yard-type category, is in a very spirited attack on the WahCo. Record of 84. Emlen?s 78 include WESTERN BLUEBIRD, COMMON NIGHTHAWK, 4 OWLS, 2 VIREOS, 7 WARBLERS, & 5 FLYCATCHERS. To show how different birding can be in Wahkiakum County than in a Seattle neighborhood, last year YardBirdRace officials chastised Emlen for forgetting to record House Sparrow, European Starling and Rock Pigeon, only to learn that there had been no forgetfulness.

Even closer to falling is the WHACo record. NICK PAGE of Ferndale has 53, one short, in Whatcom Co. including two Swans, BARN OWL, & BULLOCK?S ORIOLE. And also in Whatcom, DIANE BIRSNER is cruising in the direction of an all-new YBR mark in Bellingham with 40 including COMMON NIGHTHAWK.

In SnoCo, LIZ & TAYLOR BROOK at 50 were only 5 short of the record in Brier back in June with a CASPIAN TERN & BROWN CREEPER.

Meanwhile, JIM DANZENBAKER, who is equally at home birding Pipeline Road in Panama as he is birding in temperate Southwest WA has smashed the Clark County record with 93 including SOLITARY SANDPIPER, BARN OWL, PURPLE MARTIN & COMMON YELLOWTHROAT.

Also yardbirding far from the Viaduct debate is DIANNA MOORE of Ocean Shores who may well be holding the Ocean Shores & Grays Harbor County YardBirdRace record as of Jan 1 2007. Moore has 53 including SANDHILL CRANE, BARRED OWL, & MARBLED GODWIT.

Not far away as a Godwit flies is JAN MCMILLAN of Westport, looking for a Westport record with 21 including TOWNSEND?S WARBLER & FOX SPARROW.

There have been few new updates out of island and peninsula areas since numbers were last reported on tweeters, but DIANE MULHOLLAND leads the YardBirdRace overall as of now with a cool 105 f rom Port Hadlock including BROWN PELICAN & an interesting by non-countable LONG-TAILED WEASEL.

As reported in past tweeter posts, the FLOYDS, KATHY & MERVYN, are cruising to a likely new record in Freeland on Whidbey Island with 71 as of 5/29, and CAROLYN EAGAN and KAREN JONES are racing in Port Ludlow, where old numbers are 74 & 53 respectively.

Likewise, CONNIE BICKERTON is maintaining sole possession of the lead on Bainbridge Island with at least 40. With at least 40 and sole possession, also, & also previously reported, is KURT RANTA in Mt. Vernon.

As reported earlier on tweeters, CHRIS RHOADS has a very likely safe bead on a new Key Peninsula record with 67 . Rhoads has a bird you don?t see all the time on YBR lists: MOUNTAIN QUAIL, with 2 chicks no less, & also a WESTERN SCRUB JAY.

Meanwhile KRISTI HEIN & CASEY BAZEWICK have jumped into the fray and seem very likely to give Anacortes a brand new YardBirdRace record. Hein & Bazewick have 2 owls, a HAIRY WOODPECKER & OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER.

GARY BLETCH of Lyman, Skagit Co. was already at 63 with a TOWNSEND?S SOLITAIRE by the middle of May, a torrid pace no doubt, but maybe not torrid enough, as Bletch still has a way to go to beat his own pace. He holds the YardBirdRace Overall Acreage yard-type Category / Skagit Co record of 95.

Also in the stratosphere & needing to be are RUTH & PATRICK SULLIVAN of Fircrest. As of last report, back in May, the Sullivans were at 77, needing only 13 to tie their own Pierce Co and overall Residential yard-type record. The Sullivans have a HOODED MERGANSER this year.

Some new records, it would seem, only need to wait until midnight of Dec. 31 2006 to walk into the record books.

ROB CONWAY?S is one. Rob has moved to Preston, but his Newcastle mark of 111 will likely set a new record in yard-type greenbelt and has so many highlights, I?ll have to refer the reader to the leaderboard, although BLACK BEAR stands out mainly because it doesn?t count.

Likewise, DAWN BAILEY?S 63 from Eatonville, although it may go higher, would appear to be locked in, as it raises by 8 the old record. Bailey has MACGILLIVRAY?S, BLACK-THROATED GRAY & TOWNSEND?S WARBLERS.

PATTY KENNEDY appears to be authoring a new YBR record, this one out of Gig Harbor. Kennedy?s 36 as of early August includes RED CROSSBILL, EVENING GROSBEAK, & TOWNSEND?S WARBLER.

SHARON BAKER with 65 in Seattle, including BAND-TAILED PIGEON & PILEATED WOODPECKER, maintains a slender overall lead in Seattle and is into record setting territory working in Y/T Waterfront from West Seattle.

PAUL RANDALL has moved but one thing he likely left behind in Snohomish, WA, his old home, is a likely brand-ne YardBirdRace record of 40 including CALIFORNIA QUAIL & HAIRY WOODPECKER.

And 39 is heading toward a new Olympia record for RYAN O?DONNELL & CASEY RICHART, who has also moved. O?Donnell may get another Oly record in Urban yard-type for his workplace, where a TOWNSEND?S SOLITAIRE tops the list.

Did I mention MICHAEL HOBBS, hero of Marymoor Park? Hobbs is at 35 in Kirkland with a CALIFORNIA QUAIL as of last report.

And how about GUY MCWETHY? Guy is making a run on his own shared KINGCO R record of 71, out of Renton. At last report, McWethy had 63 including BARN OWL & BLACK SWIFT, but that was in June. Hopefully, his yard hasn?t been as dead as ours has been since June, and he?s just been too busy to update!

Meanwhile a new record is probably just months away for MAURA CALLAHAN & DAVID BACH, from the hills above Snoqualmie, where 29 sp. Includes MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE & NORTHERN PYGMY OWL.

Ballard is guaranteed to have a new record by next year. ANN ROOT has 23 with a WILSON?S WARBLER & A TREE SWALLOW. Even more demolished is the record out of Licton Springs, where REBECCA GALLOWAY has 35 including CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE.

A pair of Seattle neighborhoods are currently tied at 36. Hillman City?s BOBBY & CURT PEARSON have TRUMPETER SWAN, while CYNTHIA FAUBION of Mt. Baker has BLACK SWIFT & WESTERN WOOD PEWEE. DON MCVAY, 2004 winner with 55, is currently at 38 on Upper Queen Anne, and PATRICIA LOTT, who volunteers time to help birders with mobility issues, and winner of Urban in 2004, had 28 as of May including nesting FLICKERS.



One thing that makes YardBirdRace exciting is that anyone who has been keeping a year list may enter at any time until midnight December 31 2006. New entries are welcome at any time, and could add untold excitement to YardBirdRace. To check rules and regs or see the leaderboard, go to

http://www.ednewbold.com/yardbird.htm.

The exact number of prizes is still to be determined. Last year everyone was offered prizes, and the prizes were of tangible benefit to these entities: Washington Birder magazine, American Bird Conservancy, BirdLife International, & various Audubon chapters. My supplier of Violet-green Swallow nestboxes has gone out of business, but those might still be possible also.

I was hoping to do a press release Wednesday, but may not be able to until the week after.

Ed Newbold residential Beacon Hill, ednewbold1 at yahoo.com or yardbirdrace at yahoo.com







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