Tweeters,

I'm a long time reader, first time writer.....

This morning I left Burien, WA heading for the Kitsap Pen. via the Edmonds/Kingston ferry. My plans were to stop at the Pt. No Pt. lighthouse and the Foulweather bluff preserve. Below is a list of birds I identified both along the way and while at Pt No Pt. (Foulweather bluff was a dead zone).
Red-necked/Horned Grebe
Surf Scoter
Bufflehead
Red-breasted/Common Mergansers
Rock Dove
Bushtit
Chestnut-backed/Black-capped Chickadee
Bewick's/Winter Wrens
Brown Creeper
Golden-crowned/Ruby-crowned Kinglets
Spotted Towhee
Fox/Song Sparrows
Downy Woodpecker
Dark-eyed Junco
Mallard
A. Widgeon
Red-tailed Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Barrow/Common Golden Eye
Brandt's/D-Crested/Pelagic Cormorants
Pigeon Guillemot
Glaucous-winged/Mew Gulls
Brant
NW Crow
E. Starling
Red-winged Blackbird
Bald/Golden Eagle
Anna's Hummingbird (displaying mightily)
House Finch
N. Flicker and a lone
Pine Siskin

and last but not least, an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny Virginia Rail! A special day for me to be sure, as this was my first sighting of one. I never expected to see it, not looking for it at all. In fact by the size of this bird I doubt seriously that I would ever find these birds when looking specifically for them! This bird is (was) located in a slough/creek/ditch along NE Pt. No Pt. Rd. There is a 90 degree corner in between houses 8800 & 8824 and directly at the corner is a telephone pole. The Rail was hunkered down in the water about 35 feet to the North (towards Hansville) of that pole. Most of the waterway is overgrown with "field" grass but he/she was in the open, I was in my truck when I first saw the bird. But of course, as shy as they are (I'm told) this one didn't stay long, rather it ran quickly upstream to where grass was covering the stream. I left, returning 5 minutes later and again he was there, only to disapear quickly again. I returned an
hour and a half later and did not see it again.

Quinn Selitsch
Burien, WA
captquinn at yahoo.com