Subject: [Tweeters] 6/20 Tenino area: kite, L Bunting, orioles
Date: Jun 21 15:20:02 2009
From: Paul Hicks - phicks at accessgrace.org


Tweets, Saturday I found a LAZULI BUNTING SE of the intersection of Goddard
& Tilley Rds, just north off Old Hwy 99 between Tenino and the I-5 Grand
Mound exit 88. For some reason I have not been finding any at the
"traditional" site on Melville St. a mile or so further east -- not since a
single bird during the first influx of migrants in mid-May. However, on the
return drive toward Tenino I noticed a WHITE-TAILED KITE soaring overhead
Melville. This matches almost the exact date, June 21, I first spotted
kite(s) on Melville last year (and later an apparent nesting pair were
observed along Gibson Rd to the west). I don't check these spots regularly
enough to say when the kite arrived, but I didn't see any around anywhere
just a week prior, for instance. Nearby I found a full-adult male BULLOCK'S
ORIOLE in large fir trees, another "traditional spot," where earlier in the
season I saw a young male, on either side of Old Hwy 99 at Marsh Rd / Equus
Ridge Ln. Earlier in the morning I had heard then glimpsed a young male or
female near the marsh on Mull St. east of Tenino--where less than a handful
of this species has been recorded. Good birding!
--Paul Hicks / Tenino, s. Thurston Co / phicks AT accessgrace.org