John, Tweets,



I also studied the Canada and Cackling Geese at Sikes Lake (and noted the swan also). It seemed to me that 20 or 30 at least of the Cacklers had neat white neck rings bordered below by darker brown than the rest of the breast and that their bills might have been slightly longer than the apparent mimimas in the crowd. They also hung out in groups of like plumage. If these are the so-called ?Aleutian? Cacklers it seems a very large number based on past experience. If not, then I don?t have a clue how one is supposed to distinguish ?Aleutians? from minima. I?ve never seen so many neck-ringed Cacklers in one place before. Maybe they are shifting their wintering grounds north, just as the minimas have in recent years. Anyone else have some suggestions



Gene Hunn

Lake Forest Park

enhunn323 at comcast.net



From: tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of johntubbs at comcast.net
Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2010 7:16 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Sikes Lake - Trumpeter Swan



Hi everyone,



Sikes Lake near Carnation Farm/Camp Korey this afternoon had hundreds of Cackling and Canada Geese. Ducks were very few and far between, but on the lake mixed in with the geese was a single Trumpeter Swan. This is several weeks later than my personal latest record for this species in the valley, and it's rare in my experience to see a single bird as well. The bird appeared to be in good health and was not banded.



Given the paucity of shorebird habitat in King County, I've been keeping an eye on the field to the NW of Sikes Lake, across from the horse ranch and bordering the lake. This field has been lying fallow for a number of years but was plowed last year. It has had standing water and mud near the cross-valley road (100th) by the horse ranch for much of the winter and today had several Mallards and a lone Killdeer feeding in it. If we get enough rain to keep some standing water in this muddy field for another couple of weeks, it looks like a good stopover location for migrating shorebirds...we'll see.



I've also checked nearby Chinook Bend several times over the last few days for Western Bluebirds, but the birds reported there recently apparently were 'one-day wonders'.



John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net

www.tubbsphoto.com