Subject: [Tweeters] Re:swallows at the arboretum
Date: Jan 14 22:11:11 2009
From: willie peters - willielad at yahoo.com


Yes, saw 4 swallows from Foster island feeding on the north side of 520 bridge.Swallows on the wing not my strongpoint, the closest in the sibley is the northern rough winged, but that's just an intermediate birders guess. Is this as unusual as i think it is?
Also saw some lovely looking green winged teal and plenty of wood ducks, always a favourite.
Went to west seattle tuesday and highlights were 16 harlequins and a red throated loon and as for backyard sparrows, i don't seem to have them camped out by the feeders anymore. I'll pay more attention. The regular visits of a Coopers might also be a factor!
Willie
Located by nscc
?

--- On Wed, 1/14/09, tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu <tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu> wrote:

From: tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu <tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu>
Subject: Tweeters Digest, Vol 53, Issue 14
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Date: Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 12:23 PM

Send Tweeters mailing list submissions to
tweeters at u.washington.edu

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu

You can reach the person managing the list at
tweeters-owner at mailman2.u.washington.edu

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Tweeters digest..."


Today's Topics:

1. Re: Lack of Finches (Helen Gilbert)
2. Re: Hato Pinero article in English (Dennis Paulson)
3. Discovery Park Birds 1/13/09 (Mark & Maurie Kirschner)
4. Eurasian Wigeon (RUPERT GROVE)
5. Mud Bay Eagles (Douglas Canning)
6. filling a niche (travelGirl)
7. Backyard White-throated Sparrow (Longview, WA)
(Jeffjendro at aol.com)
8. Okanogan Trip Report Jan 10-11 + photos (ZINGIE at aol.com)
9. [Tweeters]: Skagit Wildlife Area yesterday (photos) (Kevin Mack)
10. Waterville Plateau and Okanogan Highlands Owls
(johntubbs at comcast.net)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:41:50 -0800
From: Helen Gilbert <helen.gilbert at juno.com>
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Lack of Finches
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Message-ID: <20090113.124150.1588.3.helen.gilbert at juno.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hi Tweeters,

We have had normal numbers of House Finches, Goldfinches and Pine Siskins
at our home feeder in the Maple Leaf/North Ravenna neighborhood. But like
some others, we have had a big drop in English Sparrows. We have had
virtually none since about September, though they used to be our most
frequent and numerous visitors. However, the English Sparrows are
certainly thriving outside my office building in the University District,
where a certain Socialist has a very popular feeder. The Democrat
upstairs feeds hummingbirds. :-)

Helen Gilbert
Seattle
____________________________________________________________
Learn digital and video photography techniques, lighting and printing. Click
now.
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/PnY6rw3h2NuHIqzm0SjdA3N6tXdNRbuqjQFxbQjszbQPTEvjSGHGn/


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:12:02 -0800
From: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Hato Pinero article in English
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Message-ID: <7AB9FF2A-F58E-4545-814E-642923537DD7 at comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I spent a week at Hato Pi?ero in 2001, and it was a paradise for
birding, a very well-run ranch with abundant natural habitat and
terrific wildlife and a constant stream of ecotourists. They offered
tours of the ranch by road and by boat, and the birds just around the
living quarters included curassows, Sunbitterns, potoos, and Scarlet
Macaws. You just about had to push the caimans and capybaras out of
the way to get to the wetlands.

This is a real tragedy for the Venezuelan environment, and it does
represent the extreme viewpoint of humans vs. wildlife and nature.
The same sorts of things will happen de facto all over the world as
the human population grows and grows and grows and grows. For a far
worse example, read about Zimbabwe. I also have visited the Lower Rio
Grande Valley recently, and there both people and the environment are
being given short shrift. It's not only leaders such as Chavez and
Mugabe who can bring down their own countries. Sorry for a political
viewpoint, but politics are so important to birds!
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net

On Jan 13, 2009, at 12:03 PM, tweeters-
request at mailman2.u.washington.edu wrote:

> Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:13:06 -0800
> From: jbroadus at seanet.com
> Subject: [Tweeters] Hato Pinero article in English
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>
> I have no desire to infuse any more political discussion into
> Tweeters, but I have to agree with Scott that the development
> of this wetland will be a great loss, not only to birders but to
> wildlife. Here is a somewhat easier to read translation of the El
> Universal article that was published yesterday.
>
> http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/01/12/en_eco_esp_hato-
> pinero-to-becom_12A2190169.shtml
> Jerry Broadus
> PLS 17660





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
https://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/private/tweeters/attachments/20090113/b3a1c04f/attachment-0001.html

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:36:02 -0800
From: "Mark & Maurie Kirschner" <mnmkirschner at gmail.com>
Subject: [Tweeters] Discovery Park Birds 1/13/09
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Message-ID:
<352fad1c0901131536t36fe6b40yc7b4d74a4265d41d at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Tweeters,

I've moved back to Seattle after close to four years down in Olympia and
have started birding out at Discovery Park again, it's like meeting up with
an old friend! I'm going to be doing regular walks out there on Tuesday
mornings, so if you are interested in joining me, just let me know. I'm
splitting the park in half, doing the North sections and South sections on
alternating weeks.

Today I did the North section and started from the visitor center at 8:30
and birded till about 12:45. It was a very birdy day, with many large mixed
flocks as well as calm waters on the Sound making for some good birding.

I had 43 species today, including a flock of 100+ Snow Geese that flew
over. I didn't see any Alcids out on the water, I tried to turn a couple
very distant White-winged Scoters into Pigeon Guillemots and an equally
distant Buffelhead into a Murrelet, but it just didn't work. I would chalk
it up to not having a scope, but I came across someone who did and they had
yet to see them either. Overall a very enjoyable birding day. I also saw
three River Otters.

Here's the complete list:


Snow Goose (100+) flying northwest over sewage treatment center

Gadwall

American Widgeon

Mallard

Northern Shoveler

Greater Scaup

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Buffelhead

Barrow's Goldeneye

Red-breasted Merganzer

Red-throated Loon

Horned Grebe

Red-necked Grebe

Western Grebe

Double-crested Cormorant

Bald Eagle (1 immature just starting to get little bits of white on it)

Mew Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Anna's Hummingbird (at least 4 different places)

Downy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Pileated Woodpecker

Hutton's Vireo

American Crow

Black-capped Chickadee

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Bewick's Wren

Winter Wren

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

American Robin

European Starling

Spotted Towhee

Fox Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird

Purple Finch

House Finch

Pine Siskin



Maurie Kirschner (Seattle)

mnmkirschner at gmail dot com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
https://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/private/tweeters/attachments/20090113/daf47aa7/attachment-0001.html

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:48:40 -0800
From: RUPERT GROVE <rupertgrove at msn.com>
Subject: [Tweeters] Eurasian Wigeon
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Message-ID: <BAY107-W579561928A9EBB4D1A6B5B8D60 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"


I was at Titlow Park in Tacoma this am and snagged a nice pic of the Eurasian
Wigeon that has spent the winter there with a bunch of his American cohorts.

I posted said pic here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rupertgrove/3194782515/

if anyone has the inclination to see such a shot.

Rupert Grove
Tacoma, WA

_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live? Hotmail?: Chat. Store. Share. Do more with mail.
http://windowslive.com/howitworks?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t1_hm_justgotbetter_howitworks_012009
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
https://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/private/tweeters/attachments/20090113/12c82909/attachment-0001.html

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:48:51 -0800
From: "Douglas Canning" <dcanning at zhonka.net>
Subject: [Tweeters] Mud Bay Eagles
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Message-ID: <496CE213.32063.3C5E58 at dcanning.zhonka.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

In mid-afternoon I had the good fortune to be at Mud Bay (Thurston
County) observing at the Mud Bay Road bridge at just the right time to
see 5 Bald Eagle, one adult and 4 juveniles. The adult soon departed to
the southeast; the juveniles remained perched atop Douglas-firs to the
south of the US Highway 101 bridges.

Also seen: 5 Mallard, 33 Bufflehead, Gulls, Crows.

*******************
Douglas Canning
Olympia, Wash
dcanning at zhonka.net
*******************




------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:18:12 -0800
From: "travelGirl" <travelgirl.fics at gmail.com>
Subject: [Tweeters] filling a niche
To: "tweets" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Message-ID: <8696923250CC4EF99DC71A74BAFC0353 at chirp>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

for those of you with too much money, a few birds, and a desire for your birds
to fly, be free:

http://realistatlarge.blogspot.com/2009/01/right-stuff.html ... yes, it's
bird-related. no, i'm serious. :)

00 caren
http://realistatlarge.blogspot.com/
george davis creek, north fork
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
https://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/private/tweeters/attachments/20090113/3484f6b1/attachment-0001.html

------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:22:48 EST
From: Jeffjendro at aol.com
Subject: [Tweeters] Backyard White-throated Sparrow (Longview, WA)
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Message-ID: <d40.338a68ef.369eb488 at aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Very birdy day in my backyard. First ever White-throated Sparrow plus the
following assortment:

Eurasian Collared Dove
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Northern Flicker
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
House Finch
Pine Siskin
House Sparrow

Fly overs included:
Cackling Geese
Double-crested Cormorant
Bald Eagle
Glaucous-winged Gull

Jeff Jendro
Longview, WA
jeffjendro at aol.com

**************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy
steps!
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1215855013x1201028747/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26hmpgID=62%26bcd=De
cemailfooterNO62)


------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:09:03 EST
From: ZINGIE at aol.com
Subject: [Tweeters] Okanogan Trip Report Jan 10-11 + photos
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Message-ID: <c24.52f8f244.369ecd6f at aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Hi Tweets,

A few friends and I birded the Okanogan January 10-11. We camped Friday
night so we could get an early start Saturday morning. I'm just going to
write a
list of where we saw the following birds. Seems easier for people who are
looking for specific species:

Saturday:

~20 Sharp-tailed Grouse on Conconully Road

1 Great-horned Owl in the same tree, roosting

Rough-legged Hawk Scotch Creek Wildlife Area

Common Redpolls (too far to check for Hoary) Scotch Creek WA

Prairie Falcon Scotch Creek WA

Stellar's Jay, Slate-colored Junco, Black-capped Chickadee on Conconully
Road

House Finch, Townsend's Solitaire, Hairy Woodpecker, Clark's
Nutcracker,
Cooper's Hawk, Northern Shrike on Pine Creek Road

3 Northern Pygmy Owl (one very, very close and eye-level!) on
Havillah-Tonasket Road

Rough-legged Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, 5 Grey Partridge north of Chesaw

At the Junction of Grange and Tonasket Country Rd 9467 there were ~50
Grey-crowned Rosy-Finches in one tree as well as a Hairy Woodpecker

1 Rough-legged Hawk on Grange Road

At Highlands Meadows Farm there were Mountain Chickadees, ~60 Bohemian
Waxwings, and ~30 Grey-crowned Rosy-Finches. Interestingly, the waxwings were
catching snowflakes in their beaks (it started lightly snowing mid-day). Has
anyone observed this behavior before? There were quite a few of them doing it.

Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle and Common Ravens feeding on a carcass in a field
on Chesaw Road

2 More Northern Pygmy Owls on Chesaw Road

We went to the Highland SnoPark to try for Great Greys. We didn't see any
but did see another Pygmy Owl. It was snowing heavily by dusk.

Sunday:

Cameron Lake Road Loop:
Red-tailed Hawk, Pygmy and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Prairie Falcon, Ermine,
Northern Shrike, Dark morph Rough-legged Hawk, and Snow Buntings.

South of Omak Lake:
Golden Eagle, numerous Northern Shrikes, Rough-legged Hawk

2 Merlins (about a mile apart) and a Cooper's Hawk near the Jct of
Pleasant
Valley Road and Highway 20

Twisp:
Cooper's Hawk, Common and Barrow's Goldeneye in the Methow River

Pearrygin State Park:

1 Golden Eagle, at least 100 Pine Grosbeaks, Bohemian Waxwings, 1 Pygmy Owl
at very, very close range. The grosbeaks were putting on quite a show and
were totally unconcerned with our presence.

Overall it was a great trip to the Okanogan with good weather and many great
birds!

If you would like to view photos please visit:
_http://www.dannerbradshaw.com/Okanogan-Jan-09/index.html_
(http://www.dannerbradshaw.com/Okanogan-Jan-09/index.html)

All photos are by Danner Bradshaw.

Simone Lupson-Cook
_Zingie at aol.com_ (mailto:Zingie at aol.com)
Seattle, WA
**************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy
steps!
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1215855013x1201028747/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26hmpgID=62%26bcd=De
cemailfooterNO62)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
https://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/private/tweeters/attachments/20090113/f6164dcc/attachment-0001.html

------------------------------

Message: 9
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:58:07 -0800
From: Kevin Mack <kevin_mack at comcast.net>
Subject: [Tweeters]: Skagit Wildlife Area yesterday (photos)
To: "tweeters at u.washington.edu" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Message-ID: <C592CCFF.409%kevin_mack at comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi All,

Despite the gloomy weather I decided to drive up to Fir Island and the
Skagit Wildlife Area yesterday to see what I could see. Swans were
plentiful in the fields on either side of I-5 exit 221, and they were also
very numerous in many spots along Fir Island Road. Eagles were also present
in abundance. I must have seen 30 or more between I-5 and the dead end at
the end of Rawlins Road. I parked at the end of Rawlins to access the
Skagit Wildlife Area. There were quite a few goose and duck hunters out and
about, but they were all lining the western facing edge of the dike waiting
for one of the several thousand geese that were out in the bay to attempt to
fly inland. I found a quiet little piece of wetland away from the crowd and
just stood still to see what would show up. It wasn?t long before I spotted
a Short-eared Owl flying low over the marsh. Northern Harriers were present
as well, and periodically they would get into skirmishes with the owl. I
stood there for nearly two hours watching just these two species as they
hunted, fought and went about their business. Occasionally a Bald Eagle or
Great Blue Heron would cruise by. A Red-tailed Hawk was perched in the tree
line to the north of where I was standing, and it called a few times while I
was there. Song Sparrows fed among the bushes and the drift logs around me,
and a group of siskins visited the small, stunted alder that was directly
behind me. I hardly even noticed that it was drizzling on me most of the
time I was there!

As I headed back out on Fir Island Road, I saw a group of Trumpeter Swans in
a muddy field that was very close to a side road along the river. Several
of the swans had heads and bellies that were completely coated in mud. It
contrasted sharply with their pure white feathers. They didn?t seem to
mind, and they were eagerly snapping up tidbits that they were finding as
they probed in the mud.

All things considered, it was a very nice way to spend a few hours on an
otherwise gray day. If you?d like to see a couple photos of the Short-eared
Owl and a few of the muddy swans, they can be viewed in my ?New Photos?
gallery on this page: http://www.goatislandimages.com/photogalleries.htm

Happy Birding,

Kevin Mack
Edmonds, WA
Www.goatislandimages.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
https://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/private/tweeters/attachments/20090113/c017eeea/attachment-0001.html

------------------------------

Message: 10
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:39:36 +0000
From: johntubbs at comcast.net
Subject: [Tweeters] Waterville Plateau and Okanogan Highlands Owls
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Message-ID:
<011420090739.22392.496D96B80001FBF40000577822165258069C0D0D9A9B02080106 at comcast.net>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Hi Everyone,

With all the recent owl posts, I'll add one to the mix. Marv Breece, Mason
Flint, Evan Houston and I just completed a three day trip to north-central WA
and had pretty good luck with owls. We dipped on Great Gray Owl, despite
spending pre-dawn (cold!) hours and waiting until past dark watching the meadows
and forest edges at the Havillah Sno-Park.

However, we did see GREAT HORNED OWL (7!), NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL (great looks at
2), LONG-EARED OWL and SHORT-EARED OWL. By far the most interesting Great
Horned Owl (GHOW) sighting occurred on Conconully Road along Scotch Creek. We
found multiple Sharp-tailed Grouse in clumps of trees in that area, and while
studying one particularly close and cooperative grouse, someone said, 'Say,
is that big clump in the middle of the trees an owl?!' Sure enough, there
was a roosting GHOW in the same tree as the grouse, within a very short distance
of the grouse. We speculated that this did not speak well to the Darwinian
genetic makeup of the grouse sharing the same tree...!

We arrived at Scotch Creek well before dark and slowly drove other roads in the
area looking for owls, and found a LONG-EARED OWL perched on a fence post along
Silver Hill (Happy Hill) Road. It gave nice looks in the car headlights before
another vehicle came by and flushed it.

The two NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL were found perched in tree tops along Hungry Hollow
Road and Chesaw Road.

The SHORT-EARED OWL - an unexpected and pleasant surprise - gave us a close-up
in-flight show while hunting in mid-morning along Mary Ann Creek Road on Sunday,
a very gorgeous day on the Okanogan Highlands. It circled a field within a few
yards of our car several times, including an unsuccessful hunting plunge into
the snow, before flying off.

We'll do a more complete report touching on other winter specialty birds
(suffice it to say we had an excellent trip in that regard) shortly. Evan got
some extremely good digiscope images of Bohemian Waxwing, Gray-crowned
Rosy-finch and Pine Grosbeak among others.

John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
https://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/private/tweeters/attachments/20090113/0b583667/attachment-0001.html

------------------------------

_______________________________________________
Tweeters mailing list
Tweeters at mailman2.u.washington.edu
http://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

End of Tweeters Digest, Vol 53, Issue 14
****************************************