Tweeters,

The male COMMON GRACKLE was still present at 6 PM Saturday
in the yard at 536 Twinview, next to the Dungeness County Park.
However, it was not a snap for me to get a good view of the bird.

I arrived about 2 PM, and after scouring the yard and surrounding area
for half an hour, I could not locate the grackle. So I birded for awhile
at the county park, which is a great birding spot with close views
of Graveyard Spit and the Dungeness River mouth. A bit after 3 PM,
I looked for the grackle again. I could hear it calling but could not
see it. Suddenly it flew from a low shrub into a pine tree at
536 Twinview, giving me a VERY brief glimpse. It continued giving
a "chuck" call for several minutes, but remained invisible in the pine
tree. After waiting 20 minutes for it to reappear, nothing. Arrrrghhh!!

I decided that the bird would be more likely to be active in the late
afternoon, so went birding for more than 2 hours at the Three Crabs
restaurant and along the road to the east. About 6 PM I returned,
and there it was feeding nonchalantly on the lawn! I had
excellent views of the grackle, but not quite close enough for a photo.

While there, I met Dan Waggoner, who also had nice looks at the bird.
So both of the birding Waggoners have now seen the grackle. With
luck, it will stay a few days for other birders who want to see it.
However, I would recommend looking either in the morning or late
afternoon, unless you are very patient.

By the way, there was no sign of the YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD,
even though Russell Rogers saw it that morning.

Other birds of interest in the Dungeness area:

Greater White-fronted Goose-- flock of 26 feeding along the edge of
a pond (not Helen's Pond, but the larger pond to the SE)

Brant-- at least 300 offshore in 2 large flocks

Purple Martin-- 2 males on the wires at Three Crabs, and briefly
near the martin boxes offshore (my first for the year)

Lots of shorebirds, including 3 BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS,
500 DUNLIN, 500 WESTERN SANDPIPERS, 150 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, 30
SANDERLINGS, 70 LEAST SANDPIPERS, 4 GREATER
YELLOWLEGS, 4 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, and one
SEMIPALMATED PLOVER. The tide was perfect for viewing at Three Crabs
in the early afternoon (high but not too high).

Good luck and good birding,

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