Dear Tweeters,

Disclaimer: the following message contains passages that reduce birding and ornithology to the trivial, viz, the enumeration of species seen on one day. Feel free to delete if this style of birding offends or bores you.

The heartiest of congratulations to Ryan Merrill and Joel Brady-Power on their astounding Skagit County century day of 5-14-08!

I don't know whether Tweeters are aware of just what a remarkable day Ryan and Joel experienced. I have been going for May century days in Skagit since the early 1990's. The first few times my teammates and I raised money for Skagit Audubon, when it was a fundraiser. We had every reason to try our hardest!

Kraig Kemper and I hit 117 one year. He and Bob Kuntz got to 119 a few years later, about eight years ago or so. Last year, Bob, Howard Armstrong and I reached that mark of 119 once again. It has seemed to me for some time that 120 was sort of a "sound barrier" that defied breakage. We'd always lack for a duck here, a shorebird there, with of course the usual "big miss" or two along the way. There never seemed to be enough time to find the local species in their respective habitats without losing the time needed to go on to the next. One cannot expect to find enough surprising rarities to offset the time expended on searching for local or inaccessible species such as Sooty Grouse, Hermit Thrush, Sora, Anna's Hummingbird, and Pacific Loon.

Friday evening last week, as I was getting ready for yet another try, I opened up my e-mail, seeing little of interest to me besides Ryan's post. After opening it, I actually blinked and rubbed my eyes like some bad sitcom actor when I read the number 146!

I felt a bit like Robert Falcon Scott (second to the South Pole after Roald Amundson) or Samuel P. Langley (crashing into the Potomac River just when the Brothers Wright were getting into the air)!

Anyway, Josh Parrott and I set out at 0300 on Saturday, 5-17-08, knowing that the pennant had already been clinched. We would do our best to finish second in the division, so to speak.

We had a great day, although we dipped on some "easy" birds. For example, for the umpteenth time in a row, the Barred Owl in Rockport that was there the previous Saturday during the NAMC was nowhere to be seen or heard. Blue Grouse had been calling in several spots around Rockport the week before, but by the time we reached those places, it was close to ninety degrees Fahrenheit, and the grouse were silent. Downy Woodpeckers eluded us all day long. A blowdown on Sauk Mountain kept us away from Hermit Thrush and Fox Sparrow habitat.

We missed on the Dipper--the one that Joel and Ryan saw with only moments of effort. All we found at the dipper spot was a tatooed guy drinking cheap beer.

Josh and I kept to the "Upriver Strategy" that I have long advocated. In fact, we stayed upriver until 1600, which my fellow Skagit birders would consider goofy. By doing so, we allowed ourselves only the briefest visit to saltwater. At Samish Island, we were able to find a few seabirds, but missed out on alcids (except Pigeon Guillemot), Pelagic Cormorant, and several others.

It was, however, a great day. We heard a Dusky Flycatcher at County Line Ponds, and Josh saw a Nashville Warbler there (I glimpsed it but could not see anything to ID it, and heard not a chip nor a song, so I left it as the one species that we both did not ID on the day).

At Corkindale was a female Yellow-headed Blackbird. We found a Wilson's Phalarope at Cockreham Island, one of two that day. Unfortunately, ponds that had had shorebirds only days before were devoid of any but Killdeer. However, we heard Bitterns at three or four places and Sora at two.

We also had American Coots at two places....

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch






Yours truly,Gary Bletschnear Lyman (Skagit County), Washingtongarybletsch at yahoo.com


--- Ryan Merrill <rmerrill27 at gmail.com> schrieb am Fr, 16.5.2008:

> Von: Ryan Merrill <rmerrill27 at gmail.com>
> Betreff: [Tweeters] Skagit Big Day - 14 May 2008
> An: "Tweeters at U.Washington.edu" <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Datum: Freitag, 16. Mai 2008, 21:57
> Joel Brady-Power and I did a big day in Skagit County on
> Wednesday, 14
> May 2008. There was light rain most of the day but
> fortunately not
> even a hint of wind. The birding in general was excellent
> with new
> birds at nearly every stop including many surprises. Our
> species
> total for the day was 146 which clearly surpassed our
> expectations and
> set a new record for Skagit County.
>
> Quick highlights before a more detailed report:
> Greater White-fronted Goose - 4 Samish Flats
> Snow Goose - Skagit Game Range
> Tundra Swan - 1 Butler Flats
> Eurasian Wigeon - 2 Samish Island
> Ruffed Grouse - 1 flushed Barnaby Slough
> Whimbrel - 1 Samish Flats
> Semipalmated Sandpiper - 1 Burmaster Road
> Wilson's Phalarope - 1 Burmaster Road
> Red-necked Phalarope - 2 Burmaster Road
> Short-eared Owl - 1 Samish Flats
> LEWIS'S WOODPECKER - 1 County Line Ponds (Skagit &
> Whatcom County)
> DUSKY FLYCATCHER - 1 County Line Ponds
> Ruby-crowned Kingler - 1 County Line Ponds
> Nashville Warbler - 4 Howard Miller Steelhead Park, Barnaby
> Slough,
> County Line Ponds
> Chipping Sparrow - 1 Martin Road, Rockport
> Yellow-headed Blackbird - 1 Burmaster Road
>
> Our first bird of the day was around 3:15 east of
> Sedro-Woolley when a
> Barn Owl flew across the road. Further owling was
> fruitless due to
> the rain. Robins were singing by 4:30 at Howard Miller
> Steelhead Park
> where we had a nice flock of migrants that included two
> Cassin's
> Vireos, a Nashville Warbler & two Townsend's
> Warblers. At Martin Road
> in Rockport Joel spotted a CHIPPING SPARROW. At Barnaby
> Slough there
> was another Nashville, Black-throated Gray, Townsend's
> and two singing
> MacGillivray's Warblers, plus a RUFFED GROUSE that
> flushed off the
> side of the trail. Continuing along we had a Bank Swallow
> at
> Corkindale and three Townsend's Solitaires in
> Marblemount.
>
> As we were walking into County Line Ponds, just past the
> rock pile on
> the left, a 'whit' drew our attention to a
> cooperative empid perched
> just a few feet off the ground - overall drab grayish
> color, very
> short primary projection, long tail, full eye ring that was
> slightly
> wider in the back, bicolored lower bill that was noticeably
> larger
> than the several Hammond's in the immediate area, and a
> bit of a
> crest. Just as we realized we had a DUSKY FLYCATCHER we
> spotted
> another bird flying above the trees from upriver. It's
> distinctive
> flight style, gray neck and light red belly immediately
> identified it
> as a LEWIS'S WOODPECKER! We spotted it again a few
> minutes later on a
> snag across the river. After about five minutes of decent
> but distant
> views it continued flying downriver. Other highlights here
> include a
> Ruby-crowned Kinglet, another Cassin's Vireo, two more
> Nashville
> Warblers and our only kingfisher and Varied Thrush of the
> day.
>
> A quick swing through Cockreham Island yielded a pair of
> Spotted
> Sandpipers, six Bank Swallows and another Townsend's
> Solitaire. Near
> the east end of Burmaster Road we hit the shorebird jackpot
> with a
> SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, WILSON'S PHALAROPE, and two
> RED-NECKED
> PHALAROPES, along with five dozen Long-billed Dowitchers
> and a few
> Semipalmated Plovers. If that wasn't enough, a
> ratty-looking
> YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was bathing at the edge of the
> water.
>
> The Green Road Ponds had 4 Soras, a pumping bittern, and a
> Pied-billed
> Grebe. A late TUNDRA SWAN was just north of Dahlstedt Road
> on Old
> Highway 99. An American Dipper took just thirty seconds to
> see at the
> fish hatchery on North Green Road.
>
> Our only WHIMBREL of the day was in a grassy field on Allen
> West Road.
> Two male Blue-winged Teal and a pair of Eurasian Collared
> Doves were
> on Chuckanut Drive just north of Edison. At the Samish T
> we were
> happy to find a Western Gull, four GREATER WHITE-FRONTED
> GEESE, a late
> SHORT-EARED OWL perched on a post, and about fifty American
> Pipits.
>
> At Samish Island at least two male EURASIAN WIGEON were
> with about 600
> Americans in Alice Bay. Off the DNR park were all three
> loons, two
> Greater Scaup and a pair of Marbled Murrelets. Our only
> Mew Gulls and
> Bullock's Oriole were also on the island. On our way
> out a meadowlark
> was singing at the West 90. All three species of teal were
> in the
> pond near the parking lot.
>
> The House Wrens were singing as we drove up to Bayview
> Cemetery where
> we also heard an Olive-sided Flycatcher and I had a Turkey
> Vulture.
> Four Purple Martins were found easily at the Anacortes
> Ferry Terminal.
> At Green Point in Washington Park we had about 40
> Rhinocerous Auklets
> and at least 17 Marbled Murrelets, as well as our only
> Pileated
> Woodpecker. We ended our daylight hours at the Skagit Game
> Range
> where there were at least eight bitterns, finally our first
> Bewick's
> Wrens, and in the distance some of the last Snow Geese.
> The final
> bird of the day was a Great Horned Owl calling at Rexville
> around
> 10pm.
>
> Potential birds we missed include Horned & Red-necked
> Grebe, any
> accipiters, American Coot (doesn't a dead one count??),
> Black
> Oystercatcher, Lesser Yellowlegs, Bonaparte's Gull,
> Common Murre,
> Barred Owl, Anna's Hummingbird, Hairy Woodpecker,
> Western Kingbird,
> Bushtit, and Hermit Thrush.
>
> Yesterday (5/15) on the way back home there were 2 Eared
> Grebes, 1
> Wilson's Phalarope & 2 Eurasian Collared-Doves at
> the Stanwood STP.
> On 28th Ave NW (Stubb Road) a nosiy flock of 60 Whimbrel
> were flying
> around.
>
> Good birding,
> Ryan Merrill
> Kirkland, WA
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> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
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