Hi Tweets,

No joking here! Terry Sisson, Jeff Jendro, and I birded Pierce County today. We stopped by Vicki's house in Bonney Lake just before 1:00pm. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak didn't make us wait very long at all. It flew in and allowed all of us great looks.

While watching all the different birds in the backyard it was difficult to keep up with them all. However, I was watching the hummingbird feeders and was greatly surprised to spot a male Black-chinned Hummingbird on one of them. Clearly, this bird was bigger than the Rufous Hummingbirds that were coming in as well. The throat was black and extended up into the face. The eye had white around it and there was no rufous coloration on the bird at all. Also, it had the long bill typical of this species.

I have had Black-chinned Hummingbirds coming to my feeder all last spring/summer in Cheney so there was no mistaking this bird. Hopefully, it will show up again for Vicki and others to see.

Nothing much else notable in Pierce County, but we did rack up a good number of species.

Tim O'Brien
Cheney, WA
mailto: kertim7179 at yahoo dot com