Dear Tweeters,

What with workmen at my house and a danged headcold, I have let the third week in May pass me by without my trying for a century day. I can't remember the last year that happened.

Anyway, in the late morning today (5-16-10) I grabbed some tissues and dosed myself up with various OTC snake-oils, and headed out to see if I could see a few birds.

Skagit County has a brand-new little park just west of Lyman, at the south end of Robinson Road. It doesn't even have a sign or a name yet, just a parking lot. I thought I'd found a rare passerine there today, but it was a Black-headed Grosbeak singing a weird, almost chat-like song, a very halting, slow series of two-note phrases. A Spotted Sandpiper came over to me and trweeet-trweeet-trweeeted for a while, too.

Just west of here, along the Cascade Trail (rails-to-trails), I thought I heard an American Bittern. Then I figured it was just my stuffed-up head. However, a moment later, I saw the Bittern fly up out of what I would call a cross between a swamp and a marsh here, just east of Minkler Lake.
I also saw my first spring Cedar Waxwings of the year, a bit late they seem.

At Minkler Lake was the real reason for my visit here: a swan that turned out to be a Trumpeter, all alone on this weedy lake. The bird is visible from SR 20. I scoped it from a noisy roadside spot, and determined that it had no neck band. The bird was in the exact same spot yesterday, so I don't know how well it's doing.

On my walk back to the new park, I fell into step with a couple walking three dogs, including two bulldogs that were snuffling almost as much as I am. Another sonic confusion resulted; I at first discounted my impression that I was hearing a Ruffed Grouse drumming. After the four-legged snufflers moved on a few crook-kneed paces, the two-legged snuffler determined that it actually was a Ruffed Grouse drumming!

At DeBay's Slough were quite a few songbirds, including a MacGillivray's Warbler. Lots of Wood Ducks were on the slough.

At Rosario Head, one of the largest crowds I have seen there was clambering on the rocky shoreline and sunbathing here and there. I managed to find a Black Oystercatcher and two House Wrens amid all the hustle and bustle.

The slough between Edison and West Edison had 35 L-B Dowitchers, plus a Spotty. A flotilla of ducklings may have belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Gadwall, to the Mallards, or to both.

The puddles along Chuckanut Drive, well north of Bow Hill Road, had a half-dozen or so Greater Yellowlegs.

Yours truly,


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