Hello Tweets,

Today Ken Knittle and my mother and I birded a few locations beginning at Sandy Daniel's residence in the Newaukum area of King Co,where the GRAY-HEADED JUNCO made a nice showing for us all at 2:20pm. Unlike past visits the bird was observed this afternoon in her front hard near a small brush pile and offered close views,as well as some new photos that we took of the bird! Sandy was nice enough to allow us to visit her home again, which was very nice but Ken really wanted to see this unique bird! Sandy continues to allow small groups visit her home by request only,where you may contact her by e-mail at the following address: ladyhawk707 at msn.com

Other notable species from Sandy's yard during our short stay included a Mourning Dove and an Evening Grosbeak. A single male Eurasian Wigeon was noted at the intersection of SE 376th Street and 17th Ave. SE,which is just south of Sandy's home. The bird was present in a partially flooded field with 20 Am.Wigeons just south of the road.

After visiting Sandy we drove straight to the mouth of the Cedar River at Renton,where we spent the remainder of the afternoon/evening until 5pm in search of the Slaty-backed Gull. We arrived at 1:20pm and immediately walked out onto the pier near the boat house near the mouth of the river,where we joined 2 Oregon birders. When we arrived there were very few gulls,but many more gulls came in and then left and this routine continued through the rest of the day with more gulls a times than others. The rain and wind picked up at times,but we stayed fairly dry under the eves of the building. We were able to locate a CLARK'S GREBE offshore in Lake Washington near Gene Coulon Park,where it associated with 20 Western Grebes. Our first interesting gull of the afternoon was a GLAUCOUS/GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL intergrade following by 4-5 Western Gulls and a nice assortment of Thayer's and Herring Gulls. By around 3pm we were joined by Gene Hunn,then Matt Bartels,then later by 2 Seattle birders but the Slaty-backed Gull was not located. At around 4pm Gene Hunn spotted a 1st or 2nd winter plumaged GLAUCOUS GULL out amongst a flock of other large gulls,as they preened and batched near the mouth of the Cedar River. A nice adult Peregrine Falcon made an unsuccessful pass through the flock of gulls in short pursue of a Dunlin before flying back to the Boeing Plant buildings. We stayed until 5pm as it began to get darker with steady rain. Other notable species observed during our visit to the mouth of the Cedar River included the following species:

21 Greater White-fronted Geese
16 Canvasbacks
2 Barrow's Goldeneyes
1 Eared Grebe
9+ Dunlin
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit513 at msn.com