Hi,

I will be visiting my sister in Seattle from 11/8 to 11/15. Being a birder, I am eager to get outside each day while I'm there. I hope that many winter species will have arrived in numbers in November. I humbly ask the Tweeters community to help me in locating my target birds. If anyone wants to bird together, perhaps we could arrange that, too.

My wish list is below. Except for the Hummer and the Goldeneye, species listed would be lifers. I do have the ABA guide to Washington and have read the pertinent sections but I figure it's good to have more info. I am somewhat flexible in my itinerary at this point. Areas where I want to bird are Alki Beach and Discovery Park, San Juan Island and the Samish/Skagit flats. Also maybe other areas like Point No Point, Point Defiance, Whidbey Island, Dungeness NWR and the Vancouver or Victoria areas.

Birds on my wish list that I have a fair chance of finding:
Trumpeter Swan
Barrow's Goldeneye
Sooty Grouse
Surfbird
Rock Sandpiper
Thayer's Gull (not so hard to find but hard to ID for me)
Marbled Murrelet
Ancient Murrelet
Western Screech-Owl
No. Pymgy-Owl
Anna's Hummingbird
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Am. Dipper
Townsend's Warbler

Rarities:
Emperor Goose
Yellow-billed Loon
Clark's Grebe
Gyrfalcon

Also, what's up w/ the weather in November? My understanding is that it rains every other day on average in Seattle. Is it mostly mist and drizzle or is it harder? I'm not afraid of intermittant, light rain but constant precip. is not fun for this eyeglass wearer! Info or tips most appreciated.

Thanks very much for any help that you can provide.

Scott Baron
Fairfax, Va.








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