Hi, Tweets,

I just want to thank all of you who have continued to post on
Tweeters, when you have seen these unusual birds at Hoquiam and Commencement
Bay. Bill and I finally headed down to the Hoquiam sewage treatment pond
this morning after encouragement from two people who posted yesterday that
they had seen some of these birds. We arrived about 10:30 and managed to
find the Palm Warbler by ourselves (a real piece of luck!). Other birders
had already located the Chestnut-collared Longspur on a lane running next to
the sewage treatment pond at the northeast corner of the pond. The warbler
had been across the road from this place inside the chain link fence by a
gate. The Clay-colored Sparrow was still south of the first group of
conifers on the east side of Paulson Road hanging out in thistles.

We also walked a ways out on the board walk at Bowerman Basin.
We have been to this location twice before in the spring when we had hoped
to see shorebirds. There has usually been zilch there, but many birds
across the bay at Bottle Beach. Today this area had masses of shorebirds,
ducks and three probably Turmpeter Swans (although they were hundreds of
feet away, so we're guessing). I was pleasantly surprised at how many
shorebirds there were (Black-bellied Plovers, Semi-palmated Plovers, Western
Sandpipers, and one Dowitcher were what I could see, but the tide was going
out).

Returning to Seattle, we detoured to Commencement Bay to see if
we could locate the Black-tailed Gull. We arrived about 3:15 and must have
just missed seeing Gregg Thompson and others who had already seen the gull.
Fortunately for us, Kraig Kemper was still there and he showed us which
tired out gull was the correct one. It mostly sat with its head tucked
under its wing, but we caught glimpses of the tail and bill. All in all it
was a very satisfying day of birding.

Charlotte Byers, Seattle