Dear Tweeters,

This evening (3-26-2010) there were 10 MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS on Cockreham Island! That's the most I have seen in Skagit County in one springtime flock. Not far away was the adult Northern Shrike that's been on the island all winter.

I reckon most birders will be off trying for the Black Phoebe on Mercer Island, but if you try for the MOBL's, they were foraging out in the muddy fields south of Snider Road, near a large pile of wood chips or sawdust. I watched them for half an hour, and they never left the field, but did fly around out there in this expanse of mud dotted with tufts of emergent grass. There were two females and eight males, the latter in varying degrees of refulgence.

Cockreham Island is between Lyman and Hamilton, and is mapped on page 124 in "A Birder's Guide to Washington." Snider Road is not shown in the "Hamilton Area Detail" inset map, but runs E-W through the middle of the island.

Yours truly,

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

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