Hi Tweeters,

After being gone for three weeks, it was good (beyond good) to wake up in my
own house (in Battle Ground, Clark County) again and spend a few moments on
the back deck. Things have changed dramatically in three weeks. I had the
following:

Cedar Waxwing 200+ (everywhere) - 5:15pm: a flock of 275 Cedar Waxwings just
flew over with about 20 Evening Grosbeaks
Evening Grosbeak 65
Purple Finch 4
Pine Siskin 20
American Goldfinch 1
Violet-Green Swallow 16
Varied Thrush 1
American Pipit 25
Yellow-rumped Warbler 6
American Robin 45
Dark-eyed Junco 3

A flock of 13 Turkey Vultures flew by between 1:30pm and 1:45pm which beat
my previous daily high count of 4.

Later in the afternoon, I visited Ridgefield NWR and got some much needed
shorebird therapy. I saw the following:

Long-billed Dowitcher 65
Lesser Yellowlegs 50
Greater Yellowlegs 30
Pectoral Sandpiper 3
Least Sandpiper 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
Dunlin 1*
Black-bellied Pover 2*
Killdeer 4
Wilson's Snipe 3
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper 0 (although lots of area for it to hide)
one Peregrine making passes at the shorebirds

* my first ever for the refuge.

There was also a flock of 18 Greater White-fronted Geese that almost landed
on Rest Lake.

Keep your eyes and ears skyward........

Jim

--
Jim Danzenbaker
Battle Ground, WA
360-723-0345
jdanzenbaker at gmail.com