Tweets,



Over the Martin Luther King weekend I did the customary Douglas/Okanogan
county tour with George Gerdts, Brien Meilleur, and Steve Caldwell. We ran
into Ken Brown's Tacoma group but managed to miss everyone else. We saw many
of the same birds in the same places as others have reported so I'll limit
myself to a few less mentioned observations.



Thanks to tips from various Tweeters posts on Sunday Jan. 20 we were able to
see 33 SHARP-TAILED GROUSES (is that the correct plural form?) at the Scotch
Creek reserve on Conconully Rd. at the overlook at the Happy Hill Rd. jct.,
but saw none in the birches along the creek there below the road for the
first half-hour. Then about 3 PM as we were about to bag it we spotted one
suspicious lump in a birch. Shortly we saw two, then five, then the grouse
commenced flying up into the birches to feed from their hiding places in the
grass, cattails, and reeds along the creek. They are quite the acrobats,
balancing on the smallest twigs to nip the buds. We got close looks at three
RUFFED GROUSES along Happy Hill Rd. back in the forest en route for a nice
comparison.



Thanks to hot tips from Ralph and Betty from Pateros and a guiding hand by
Meredith Spencer we got close looks at the SAW-WHET OWL and HARRIS'S SPARROW
at Bridgeport State Park.



Perhaps the fanciest bird was the juvenile KRIDER'S RED-TAILED HAWK roosting
in the orchards at the base of Central Ferry Rd. sw from Brewster. We have
fotos. A dead ringer for the illustration in Sibley though the face was a
bit more Osprey-like than in the Wheeler guide fotos.



We must have seen 1000 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS at several spots, including a nice
flock in the late afternoon sun in Coulee City.



Located one 1st year GLAUCOUS GULL and one 1st year THAYER'S GULL at Grand
Coulee.



Got close looks at a CANYON WREN in the Grand Coulee just south of Steambock
Rock and at three SAVANNAH SPARROWS (wintering?) sw of Ephrata.



Finally, Brien spotted two female LONG-TAILED DUCKS loosely associated with
about 1000 mostly Greater Scaups at Vantage, just south of the I-90 bridge.



Today (January 26) I did a haphazard King County Big Day by myself. The day
started off fine but deteriorated to rain and slush by the PM. 95 species,
despite missing such species as the flicker!



The ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK at the Snoqualmie River bridge on 124th St. s of
Duvall was there about 8 AM but moving about and soon disappeared. The
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK was hunting at the Green River NRA in Kent late in the
day, as were four NORTHERN HARRIERS and a single SHORT-EARED OWL at dusk.
Two AMERICAN KESTRELS between Duvall and Carnation and a MERLIN in Kent.



The 1st year ("cycle") GLAUCOUS GULL was loafing with the usual crowd at the
mouth of the Cedar River in Renton about 3 PM. There were 21 swans just west
of West Valley Rd. and south of Frager in Kent about 4 PM. Approximately 12
TRUMPETERS and 9 TUNDRAS, which is atypical of the normal proportion (i.e.,
20 Trumpeters to 1 Tundra) in King County. By the way, I'm sure this is
entirely due to the Trumpeter populations explosion, not to any Tundra
declines.



At the flooded field just north of 285th St. on the east side of West Valley
Rd. towards Auburn there were ca. 35 DUNLINS, 20 WILSON'S SNIPES (but no
Jacksnipes), 15 KILLDEER, and 3 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS.



There were at least 4 male EURASIAN WIGEONS at Pepper's Pond off West
Snoqualmie Valley Rd. south of the Novelty Hill jct. in the unfrozen
section.



That's about it.



Gene Hunn

18476 47th Pl. NE

Lake Forest Park, WA

enhunn323 at comcast.net