Hi All,

Dennis asked whether Yellow-rumped Warblers are more common along (Puget
Trough) coastlines. If one includes Point no Point in the equation then
the answer is most certainly yes. Monday morning of this week Vic Nelson
had several thousand move through during a few hour period. I recall
having the same type of spring push of Yellow-rumps at Point no Point a
few years back with a final tally of about 5,000 birds. I was amazed.
Most of the birds are in flight overhead but good numbers also land in
the vegetation. It does appear that they are following the eastern
shoreline of the Kitsap Peninsula before making the cross over water to
Whidbey Island and beyond. I often watch a smaller scale movement at Fay
Bainbridge State Park along the northeastern shoreline of Bainbridge
Island. I don't have "inland" counts that come close to the numbers at
these two locations.

Even though Townsend's Solitaires are considered a rare westside lowland
spring migrant I find them in small numbers each year at Point no Point.
I also generally get them every year on Bainbridge Island. Yesterday,
Ryan Merrill, Tom Aversa, Vic Nelson and I had an amazing 14 along the
Point no Point Road (near the "ship" house). The Solitaires were
feasting on the berries (?) of English Ivy. It does seem that we've had
a good number of reports this spring but this concentration was
impressive nonetheless.

Enjoy Migration!

Brad Waggoner
Bainbridge Island, Washington
mailto:wagtail at aounddsl.com