Subject: [Tweeters] Skagit "Common Teal"
Date: Dec 28 12:49:27 2008
From: Gary Bletsch - garybletsch at yahoo.com


Dear Tweeters,

On yesterday's Padilla Bay CBC, conducted under challenging weather and road conditions, my party observed a Common Teal (Eurasian Green-winged Teal). This was in the little marsh at the north end of Similk Bay, off Reservation Road. This location is south of SR 20 in Anacortes. Other than that, there were a few other interesting birds in our area: lots of Black Turnstones, a Western Sandpiper, and a Hermit Thrush. Overall, though, it was a rough day. It was perhaps the only time that my area did not yield a single owl of any kind. We also failed to turn up any Virginia Rails. Whole swaths of the area were left unbirded, due to steep, ice-clad roads. I was informed that the waterfowl count on Padilla Bay and Samish Bay enumerated only about ten to twenty percent the usual number of dabbling ducks out there.

The piece-de-resistance was coming home to a driveway full of foot-deep (0.304-meter-deep) slush!

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch ? Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA ? garybletsch at yahoo.com ? ?