Tweets - I braved the awful weather and made a swing through Pierce,
Thurston, and Grays Harbor counties yesterday and today. Every where I went
(all the time, both days) it was windy, with frequent rain squalls, except
when it was snowing. Given the weather, it was somewhat a waste of time and
gas, but I did find a few things.

>From the Dash Point Pier, I was able to get a good look at a RED-THROATED
LOON and I had a distant flyby of a PACIFIC LOON. At Point Brown, just to
the south, I had several COMMON MURRES close in.

At the other end of Pierce County, I had some RED CROSSBILLS on Mounts Rd.
in the golf course. That's the last exit north of the Nisqually valley. I
*might* have heard a Blue Jay there too...

In Thurston County, my first stop was Nisqually Reach, where there were
several distant EARED GREBE mixed in with the more numerous HORNEDs. There
were also several BRANT.

At Boston Harbor, I got good looks at a PACIFIC LOON and a couple of BRANT'S
CORMORANTS.

This morning, I tried driving up the Wynoochee Valley Road in Grays Harbor
County. Pavement ends at m.p. 17, and before m.p. 18, I had to turn around
due to more than 10 inches of new snow. I did call in a NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL
while attempting to toot some excitement into the chickadees. That was
about it, though, except for a flock of 30+ VARIED THRUSH.

Amazing how much damage there was from that wind storm earlier this winter.
Huge blowdowns of large swaths of even mature forest, and almost every barn
damaged extensively.

Brady Loop provided the most excitement of the two-day trip. First, I had 9
TUNDRA SWAN, with a scattering of BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER in attendance. Then
I noticed a black hawk in a tree across the field. It was entirely black,
except for a bit of white flecking on the upper breast, and except for the
tail whose base was kind of ashy-colored with a darker tip. After watching
it for quite a while, it took flight, confirming without doubt that it was a
HARLAN'S HAWK. Very nice.

Foster Rd. featured at least 3 EURASIAN WIGEON amongst the AMWIs. Then, as
I was perusing more ducks, a PEREGRINE FALCON flew through.

I stopped at Coulon Park in Renton on my return, hoping to find good gulls.
I did have a HERRING GULL, but nothing else of note. It seemed gull numbers
were a bit low, until I looked over to the mouth of the Cedar River.
Airport officials hadn't hazed the gulls over there, so the missing hundreds
were explained. I actually scooted over there at 5:00 p.m., hoping for joy.
I met another birder there who reported that he'd had a GLAUCOUS GULL
earlier, but that he'd lost track of it when the gulls had been spooked by
an eagle. No sign of a Slaty-backed, and I couldn't relocate the Glaucous.

I'm hoping the birding gods recognize my devotion to duty these past two
days, and that I'll be appropriately rewarded at a future date...

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== birdmarymoor at verizon.net