Tweeters,

After three unsuccessful trips to try to find the WHOOPER SWAN
south of Snohomish, I finally found the bird and had some nice scope
views of it along Pioneer Highway, 1.7 miles south of Conway,
from about 1:30 to 2:10 PM. It was with a flock of 193
TRUMPETER SWANS on the east side of Pioneer Highway,
and only about 200 metres away. There were also about 30
CANADA GEESE and 2 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE in
the flock. Several other birders, including Ann Dursch from Anacortes
and Bill Hickey from Shoreline, got to see the swan while I was there.

Afterward, I spent about 1.5 hours at the Skagit Wildlife Area
(headquarters area) just SW of Conway. I talked to Steve Pink,
who had just seen a flock of 20 (!) PINE GROSBEAKS on the Wiley
Slough trail south of the boat launch. Birding was slow because of
a brisk 20 to 30 mi/hr west wind, and I did not rate my chances
highly for finding the grosbeaks. However, about half a mile south
of the boat launch, I was delighted when a flock of 10 grosbeaks
flew in from the west, turned into the wind, and landed in the top of
two Sitka Spruces close to the trail. After a few minutes, two of the
birds flew down into a Pacific crabapple tree right next to the trail,
only 10 feet away, and began feeding.

Also of interest was a SLATE-COLORED JUNCO at the boat launch
parking area. I did not see the Am. Tree Sparrow or Common
Redpolls that were reported by others, but was happy enough with
what I did see.

There wasn't much daylight left when I departed the Wildlife Area,
but there were still between 5000 and 10,000 SNOW GEESE
feeding in the fields near the junction of Maupin Road and
Fir Island Road.

Now, if that WHOOPER SWAN would just move a bit farther north--
Vancouver still doesn't have a record of this species!

Good luck and good birding,

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