Subject: [Tweeters] Skagit birding
Date: Sep 6 10:00:35 2009
From: Gary Bletsch - garybletsch at yahoo.com


Dear Tweeters,

September fifth was a good day to go birding in Skagit County. A few highlights follow.

Black Scoter: one female, and one bird that was probably a male of the species, seen with about 400 Surf Scoters, off Bay View State Park. Unfortunately, the two, which were acting as a pair, swam into a patch of sun-glare water, and I lost sight of them before I could study the male.

Rough-legged Hawk: one just west of the junction of SR 20 and Higgins Airport Road, west of Burlington. Earlier than any I have seen here, by about a month.

8 species of shorebirds on Skagit River mudflats at Lyman: Killdeer; Semipalmated Plover; Greater Yellowlegs; one very late Solitary Sandpiper; Least Sandpiper; Western Sandpiper; one Pectoral Sandpiper; 3 Baird's Sandpipers.

Spotted Sandpiper: one at Channel Drive (the only shorebird there).

Black Turnstone: two at March Point.

6 species of gulls at Rosario Head: Heermann's (100's); Glaucous-winged (almost as many); California (dozens); Mew (a few); Ring-billed (a very few); Bonaparte's (one).

Common Murre: ten at Rosario Head, about half of which were mini-murres (juveniles). Also, an adult and a mini-murre at Green Point.

Marbled Murrelet: about ten at Green Point.

Black Swift: 25 at Northern State Recreation Area (but only one or two Vaux's Swifts were seen going into the chimney by the swift-counters).

Yellow Warbler: small numbers here and there.

Lincoln Sparrow, one at Lyman.

Evening Grosbeak: good numbers are visiting a feeder in Lyman now.


Yours truly,

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