I was on the westside this weekend on a tour with a music group from my school. We stayed the first night in Centralia and the next morning (3/1/08) I did about an hour's birding along the roads around where I was staying. I had about 30 species including the following:

Western Scrub-Jay - 2
Varied Thrush - 2
Hutton's Vireo - 2
WHITE-THROATED SPARROW - 1 tan-striped with Golden-crowned's
Fox Sparrow - 2
Purple Finch - 24
Evening Grosbeak - 11
Violet-green Swallow - 15 (later in the morning in Chehalis)

We spent the next night in West Seattle very near Alki Point. On Sunday morning (3/2/08), I birded along about a mile and a half of the waterfront from Alki Point south in addition to Jacobsen Rd against some nice forest. About 40 species including some fun ones. A partial list follows:

Common Goldeneye - 45
Barrow's Goldeneye - 21
Bufflehead - 55
Surf Scoter - 40
White-winged Scoter - 5
BLACK SCOTER - 3 (very close right off the point)
Red-breasted Merganser - 6
Harlequin Duck - 20
Brandt - 21
Horned Grebe - 46
Red-necked Grebe - 7
Western Grebe - 120 (one large raft)
Western Gull - 3 (lots of GWGU's too)
Red-throated Loon - 4 flyby's
Rhinocerus Auklet - 1
Bald Eagle - 3
Anna's Hummingbird - 7
Bushtit - 55
Brown Creeper - 2
Hutton's Vireo - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1

It was fun to do a little westside birding without making a special trip across the mountains. Now to find that Red-bellied Woodpecker!

Michael Woodruff
Spokane, WA

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