Dear Ryan, Joel, and Tweeters,

Congratulations to Joel and Ryan, and mutual commiserations to Howard, on a great find. Ross's Goose is a nice one indeed.

I went out there to Fir Island Friday afternoon and evening, and tried for the Ross's for three or four hours. First the geese were out in a field north of Cowtown, very distant from any access point. I watched them for an hour or so, as Bald Eagles continuously panicked them, sending off sub-flocks hither and thither. I was able to observe the Blue Goose for perhaps ten minutes out of the hour I spent at that spot. When the birds were finally pushed too far by the eagles, they went to the field just west of Hayton Preserve. Oddly, there were tourists with cameras out in that field, chasing the geese and trying to take pictures. I ended up going over there and asking them if they had landowner permission. I had never been in that field before--it's usually got either hunters or farmers in it. The tourists were all blithely unaware of any landowner issues, so I joined them, and had a nice chat about Chiang Kai-Shek with three Taiwanese gentlemen. That
field is quite full of goose poop, and looks like a pasture that's been overgrazed, which it has been, but not by cattle! Anyway, I was able to view one Cackling Goose for about thirty seconds. Then it was obscured by the mass of perhaps 5000 Snow Geese, and I never saw it again. Obviously, a Ross's Goose could hide very well in such a situation. I also spotted my first Caspian Tern of the year out over the bay, and saw a late-ish Short-eared Owl, but as far as frosted mini-geese, I had no joy.

Today I led a Skagit Audubon trip to Rasar State Park and vicinity. Bird of day was Townsend's Solitaire. We had one along SR 20 at Bacus Hill (west of Lyman). We later had two more in the town of Hamilton. Pardon my use of the verb "to have." I meant to write, "we saw." A Black-throated Grey Warbler and lots of other nice birds were at the slough at Hamilton's east edge. It was easily the best birding spot of our day.

Rasar Park was fairly quiet; we usually do this trip in May. Interstingly, there was much more bird activity in the thick coniferous forest than in the pasture and riparian edges. One of our party surmised that the forest provided some thermal protection in the accursed wintery conditions. We did see a strange, yellow-colored warbler that might have been an Orange-crowned, but did not look or act quite right. We also had great looks at Hairy Woodpeckers courting and Red-breasted Sapsuckers doing their thing.

On a personal birding note, I had what I think was my first-ever Washington 4-species-of-dove day. I glimpsed one Eurasian Collared Dove in Sedro-Woolley, although the other folks missed it. I also glimpsed a Mourning Dove along SR 20 in Birdsview. We saw Rock Pigeons in Sedro-Woolley and on Cockreham Island, and two Band-tails flew over Rasar State Park. Yay!

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

Yours truly,Gary Bletschnear Lyman (Skagit County), Washingtongarybletsch at yahoo.com


--- Ryan Merrill <rjm284 at gmail.com> schrieb am Sa, 19.4.2008:

> Von: Ryan Merrill <rjm284 at gmail.com>
> Betreff: Fir Island Ross' Goose
> An: "alicet2 at msn.com" <alicet2 at msn.com>, "aslanian at whidbey.net" <aslanian at whidbey.net>, "bctm at fidalgo.net" <bctm at fidalgo.net>, "caco at clearwire.net" <caco at clearwire.net>, "dabarrybest at verizon.net" <dabarrybest at verizon.net>, "garybletsch at yahoo.com" <garybletsch at yahoo.com>, "godwits at wavecable.com" <godwits at wavecable.com>, "ivym at juno.com" <ivym at juno.com>, "J.B. Smith (Verizon)" <jb.smith at verizon.net>, "jacyn at cnw.com" <jacyn at cnw.com>, "jbird202 at hotmail.com" <jbird202 at hotmail.com>, "jcasey108 at earthlink.net" <jcasey108 at earthlink.net>, "Joel Brady-Power" <fvnerka at hotmail.com>, "jrdouglass at juno.com" <jrdouglass at juno.com>, "JSWPhys at aol.com" <JSWPhys at aol.com>, "K_Kemper at msn.com" <K_Kemper at msn.com>, "kwiggers at fidalgo.net" <kwiggers at fidalgo.net>, "leedallas at clearwire.net" <leedallas at clearwire.net>, "Phil Wright" <plwright at comcast.net.>, "pidolph at verizon.net" <pidolph at verizon.net>, "ppritzl at verizon.net" <ppritzl at verizon.net>, "rdursch at earthlink.net"
<rdursch at earthlink.net>, "Rhammerly at msn.com" <Rhammerly at msn.com>, "richrson at cnw.com" <richrson at cnw.com>, "rmerrill27 at gmail.com" <rmerrill27 at gmail.com>, "Robert_Kuntz at nps.gov" <Robert_Kuntz at nps.gov>, "RobertKuntzII at aol.com" <RobertKuntzII at aol.com>, "scheltens at comcast.net" <scheltens at comcast.net>, "Sheila Pera" <rjp4995 at att.net>, "thais at wavecable.com" <thais at wavecable.com>, "Tom.Aversa at Zoo.org" <Tom.Aversa at zoo.org>
> Datum: Samstag, 19. April 2008, 9:42
> Hello Skagit Birders,
>
> Yesterday afternoon Joel Brady-Power and I were fortunate
> enough to
> find a Ross's Goose with the Snow Geese at the Hayton
> Reserve on Fir
> Island. Unfortunately Howard was the "sacrificial
> birder" of the day
> since had left us shortly before we found the goose. If
> you look for
> it I would highly recommend a scope and a bit of patience.
> Many Snow
> Geese were coming and going in the half hour or so that we
> were there
> but luckily they were close to the road so they could be
> searched
> through relatively easily. There was also a
> "Blue" Snow Goose and 3
> Cackling Geese in the flock.
>
> I have a few pictures of it online:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjm284
>
> Does anyone have any idea how many other record's of
> Ross's Geese
> there have been in Skagit County? I know of seven reports
> in King
> County since 1990 but don't know of any specific Skagit
> sightings.
>
> There were also about a dozen Greater Yellowlegs at the
> East 90 on the
> Samish Flats where the Long-billed Curlew was last weekend,
> though the
> curlew was nowhere to be found. The Common (Eurasian
> Green-winged)
> Teal was still present at Indian Slough (the first slough
> north of Hwy
> 20 on Bayview-Edison Road).
>
> Thanks,
> Ryan Merrill
> Kirkland / Samish Island


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