Hi Tweets,

I went yesterday to see the Whooper again for a better chance of some photos and to see the Pine Grosbeaks. I saw the swan a couple of weeks ago with Brian Bell's help through his scope but it was way off in the distance. Yesterday when I arrived at about 8:30 am a fog was just rolling in and no sign of the Whooper, so I decided to head up to Semiahmoo to see the King Eider. When I arrived, Dennis Paulson already had it in his scope at its usual location, feeding off the edge of the dock and occasionally diving for food. I couldn't quite see what it was catching as it was so far out but it lost it a couple of times to a sneaky gull who would steal the food away as the Eider surfaced.

The Whooper was, as reported earlier, right next to the church sifting through the puddles for food and was very co-operative to being photographed. I then went to see if I could find the Pine Grosbeaks by the boat launch at the Skagit WR at about 3:00pm but I couldn't find them in the half hour I was there. I placed several pictures of the Whooper in my January gallery at pbase.

Rod Gilbert
Olympia.

http://www.pbase.com/rodg/jan