Dear Tweeters,

Twice in the last month or so, Western Scrub Jays have made fleeting appearances in western Skagit County. I chased them both to no avail, the one at Pulver Road and Chuckanut Drive, as well as the one at the WSU Demonstration Gardens on Memorial Highway near Mount Vernon. I even inquired at the Skagit Wild Bird Supply store nearby, but they had not seen the jay at the store's busy feeders.

So of course, this morning, as I was slurping the last of my coffee and cosseting my dogs, a Western Scrub Jay landed on my bird feeder! It was here less than three minutes, then headed off to the west.

My wife and I hiked up Sauk Mountain today, and although the birds were few, they were good ones. The first bird we saw on the hike was a Northern Pygmy Owl. It was up on the summit plateau, a spot where they turn up with some regularity. It attracted our attention by calling, wherupon I attracted its attention by calling back. My wife got some passable photos with her new camera, including one shot of it in flight, which I fancy would make a pretty good quiz photo.

A while later, two Townsend's Solitaires turned up. They shadowed the owl for a bit, then flew off. For a while, we saw the owl perched on one of the summit crags--the first instance I recall of seeing one of these birds perched upon a stone.

Later still, ten Common Ravens started circling over the summit, soon to be joined by six Bald Eagles: an adult, a subadult, and four immatures, each of which wearing a different pattern of plumage. They represented the first sign I have had of this year's winter eagle concentration along the Upper Skagit.

I also saw some little birds flying about among the tali far below the summit, but could never get them in my binoculars. That was tantalizing indeed, because Grey-crowned Rosy Finches have been known to turn up in this very locale. I might have pursued them, but we had our oldest dog with us, and needed to get old Tina off the mountain.

Yours truly,


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