On Friday, 2/22/08, I visited the Julia Butler Hansen NWR. After birding
there I crossed State Hwy 4 and headed east on Nelsen Creek Road, eventually
ending up on Foster Rd before looping back to Cathlamet. In a field between
two houses I saw a tom turkey and 5 hens. To me they looked identical to the
pictures in Sibley's "Field Guide to Birds of Western North America" and
National Geographic's "Complete Birds of North America". The problem is I'm not
sure how to tell wild turkeys from domesticated turkeys, unless they are the
white variety of domestic turkey. The occupants of neither house was home so
I was unable to confirm that they might indeed be wild. Are there any
birders that are local to that area that might know about these turkeys. I sure
would like them to be wild as right now the only wild turkeys I'm sure of were
seen in New Zealand of all places (introduced species).

Eleven days ago when I visited the NWR there was not a single gull to be
seen. Then the smelt decided to run up the Elochoman River and yesterday there
were thousands of gull, the preponderance being Mew Gulls. Also lots of
Glaucous-winged Gulls, Herring Gulls, and hybrids. Pretty certain of a couple of
Thayers Gull and there could have been a Glaucous Gull. I need gulls to
roost within close binocular range while turning appropriately to show all sides
and to stretch their wings to be certain of most identifications.

I also made a loop of Puget Island, but didn't see anything that I hadn't
already seen on the NWR. The list for the NWR is as follows. I heard but did
not see Black-capped Chickadees and Northern Flicker. I saw kinglets at a
distance, but wasn't able to determine which they were (I can't hear kinglets).


Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Killdeer
Mew Gull
Herring Gull
Thayer?s Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Belted Kingfisher
Steller?s Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer?s Blackbird
House Sparrow



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