Dear Tweeters,

David Twellman, Kurt Ranta and I were at Hayton Preserve on Fir Island this afternoon, when we spotted a peculiar white bird out in the field, not far from the big Snow Goose Flock.

The bird turned out to be a CASPIAN TERN. It looked like an adult, still in breeding plumage. This bird stayed perched in the short-grass field for a good twenty minutes, hardly moving from one spot. Then it finally took off, headed out toward Stanwood. That was the latest one I have seen in Washington by a good two weeks. We wondered why the bird would stand out there in a field--I have never seen one in a field before, at least not in Washington.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch ? Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA ? garybletsch at yahoo.com ? ?