Its a new year and with that comes a blank slate and a new list. So I decided to try and find a few of the recent skagit rarities to kick off the new year. I found the Harris's Sparrow very close to the original sighting. I parked at the pink guardrail and walked north along the gravel road. The bird was foraging on the ground on the right side of the road with a flock of Golden-crowns. I got two nice long views of the bird kicking around before it disappeared into the bushes. Howard showed up and we tried and tried to relocate it, but to no avail. As I was walking back to my car an Eurasion-collared Dove flew up and perched on a wire for me. Next I went looking for the Pacific-golden Plover and found it on Fields Road after the curvy bit on the north side of the road in amongst a small flock of Black-bellied Plovers. I looked around for the Prairie Falcon, but had no luck so I finished the day at the West 90 watching the Short-eared Owls and Northern Harriers hunt in the wind. I'd seen all these birds in 07, but never in the same day. Great way to start 08.


Joel Brady-Power
Anacortes, Wa
fvnerka at hotmail.com
_________________________________________________________________
Get the power of Windows + Web with the new Windows Live.
http://www.windowslive.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_powerofwindows_012008