Subject: [Tweeters] whooper swan seen, afternoon, Monday, Jan 9
Date: Jan 9 00:52:44 2007
From: Howard Wilson - hwiz at earthlink.net
Tweets:
My wife and I drove north from Bellevue in mid afternoon on Monday. On
I-5 we entered Skagit County, promptly turned west (left) onto Milltown Road
and soon encountered our first swans assembled in a field to the south - no
luck. We continued on, turned north (right) onto Pioneer Highway and at .8
miles reached the small turnoff on the right at the flat wooden bridge
crossing a canal (mentioned by New Mexico birder, C.J Grimes on an earlier
Tweeters). It was 3:30 PM and in the field before us were three groups of
swans, the largest and furthest away was a collection of about 100. In the
mildly increasing drizzle I scoped each one and halfway along in the far
rear, there it was!! - bright yellow bill with all the features, the bird
even turning away to allow a clear look at the yellow underside.
I found it hard to stop watching this wonderful creature, knowing how
far it must have come to pay us a visit.
We had missed the bird twice in the Snohomish area, and here there were
no birders to be seen - which brings me to a related subject:
Wayne Weber in a comment to his BC colleagues had suggested they keep
posted on the whooper where-abouts by calling the Bird Box (206) 281-9172.
I must confess with the great stuff on Tweeters, I had not even thought of
the Bird Box recently. With access to it via cell phones while in the hot
locales it presents a potential great source of helpful information. The
problem I encountered, however, is that few birders seem to be using it.
Monday in the afternoon when we were turning onto Milltown Road, the most
recent recording listed was for Saturday and although helpful, it wasn't
exactly "Breaking News". Just to keep faith, I called in my report on the
sighting, but did so after I reached home (I had some initial problems
signing in via my cell phone at the site and figured it would be too dark
before anyone could get there anyway) [Yes, I do know how many chickadees
can be in Washington, but it did give me momentary pause]. My report was
instantly recorded and available !
Cheers
Howie Wilson
Bellevue, WA
mail to: hwiz at earthlink.net