Dear Tweeters,

Today, John Day led a Skagit Audubon trip to a few Upper Skagit birding spots. We visited Martin Ranch Road and nearby Barnaby Slough, then Howard Miller Steelhead Park, before rain started falling in the afternoon.

Highlights included:

--Pied-billed Grebe calls heard at Barnaby Slough.

--60 or so geese flying over the Skagit near Rockport, probably Greater White-fronted, but their calls were muffled by distance, and views distorted by rain. Darn.

--A very few Vaux's Swifts over Howard Miller.

--Hammond's Flycatchers heard, but not seen, at both Barnaby Slough and Howard Miller.

--Pacific Slope Flycatchers at Martin Ranch Road and Barnaby Slough.

--A pair of Cassin's Vireos at Barnaby Slough.

--Black-throated Grey Warblers heard singing, but not showing themselves, at both Martin Ranch Road and Barnaby Slough.

--Lots of Yellow-rumped Warblers here and there, including two upriver Myrtle Warblers at Howard Miller.

--5 or 6 Red Crossbills at Martin Ranch Road.

--Evening Grosbeaks here and there at just about every stop, but never giving much of a view.

After the trip I shirked some digging chores I was supposed to do--glad I did. At Northern State Recreation Area were a few more Vaux's Swifts; I did not see them near the chimney, rather near the highway. Also here were a handful of Least Sandpipers, pointed out to me by Josh Parrott, who happened to drive by with Dick Abbott and stopped to chat.

At the ninety-degree turn north of the West Ninety (Samish Flats) were four or five Greater Yellowlegs, plus two Lesser Yellowlegs. A pair of Cinnamon Teal were in the pond near the parking area; a Eurasian Collared Dove was perched on the telephone wire right near the outhouse, calling away.

I seldom find truly "early" migrants, but several of the species I saw today were among my personal earliest records in Skagit County. I will add that yesterday (4-23-10) I enjoyed my second Nashville Warbler sighting of the year, a single bird east of Lyman, near Cockreham Island.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch









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