Hi All in Tweeterland,
Yesterday (saturday) I decided I had procrastinated long enough (my usual MO) and decide to join the tail end of the crowd going to Brownsmead to look for the Arctic Loon. With the additional incentive of prospects of some actual sunny weather (damn you, P-I weather forecasters) I headed south with Bob Stallcop, fresh from birding the Okanogan last weekend. At that time Bob updated me about the opposing weather fronts that were supposed to be meeting right where we were going to be birding. By the time we crossed the river at Longview it had started raining. About 10 miles further at Clatskanie, it had turned to slushy sleet. The rain kept up all day, until we got back to the south Puget Sound.

By the way, if you want details of the Arctic Loon, I'll just give them to you up front...we didn't see it. This way, if that's all your looking for, you don't have to read any further. But I believe not seeing something can be just as useful as seeing it, i.e. maybe it's gone, or maybe it's not as consistent as originally thought.

Anyway, all things considered, it turned out to be a pretty birdy day. Soon after we got there, we met a couple from Seattle who were on their 4th try. We exchanged cell phone numbers in case one of the parties spotted it. We found one loon by the boat ramp, which turned out to be a Red-throated. We watched 2 small Red-tailed Hawks chase a hardly-exerting-itself Merlin with something in its talons, for a quarter of a mile, before giving up. We found a large collection of waterfowl in a wetland that drained into either the end of Blind Slough, or a Channel of the Columbia. If you continue on Ziak Gnat Creek Road as it bends south toward Knappa, it is on the north/right/river side. Although we didn't see any signs or fencing, it had a bunch of numbered nest boxes and platforms. In addition to a couple of domestic geese, we found 3 Trumpeter Swans. Heading back to re-check the boat ramp area of the slough, we ran into Ryan Merrill and two buddies. From a little overlook halfway between the Barendse bridge and the boat ramp we had 5 scopes scanning. A second Red-throated Loon flew in, it's toes tickling the water for about 20 or 30 feet before settling in. Then, while scanning a large (maybe 500) flock of Cacklers (with a few Canadas) across the slough, someone spotted a Brant working it's way through the crowd. Then a second was spotted. They didn't seem to be hanging together, just trying to grab a bite to eat without getting nipped by the slightly larger Cacklers. We birded from about 10 to 1:30 without seeing the loon. We then headed west to Astoria for some lunch (and heat). The plan was to cross the river and then head north to South Bend to look for the Emperor Geese which had been spotted earlier by Ryan and his friends. However, since the Arctic Loon would have been a lifer for both of us, and we had both seen the Emperor that was in Snohomish last year(in equally rainy conditions) we decided to head back for another try. We saw a full-plumaged male Wood Duck land in the middle of the slough. We also found a Varied Thrush, the first one this winter for both of us, in a year where they seem to be in short supply.

May all your trips be birdy!
Jeff Cohen
Maple valley
kokobean2 at hotmail.com


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