Dear Richard and Tweeters,
?
Sorry to hear that the?Sharp-tailed Sandpiper has been elusive at times.
?
Two things, in case?people try again.
?
This year, the shorebirding at the Game Range seems to be good at almost any time, except high tide.The full? ponds have so little mud that hardly any shorebirds use them. When it's really low tide, there are usually shorebirds at the site, but they're harder to see.
?
The last hour just before the ponds fill up is usually the best for shorebirding at the Game Range. Still,?try as I might, I have yet to figure out how to predict when that is going to happen. The tides in the newspaper are often hours off from what I see at the Game Range.
?
The call that was reported as?sounding like a Cassin's Vireo was probably a Purple Finch. This call has confounded many skilled birders at this site. Quite a few times, I have been there during field trips, when everybody is pulling out a notebook to jot down a "heard-only" Cassin's Vireo--when someone spots the finch making the call. Offhand, I can't recall hearing it any place other than the Game Range, but I have heard it there scores of times. It can sound astoundingly similar to a CAVI, but it always turns out to be the PUFI. Go figure!
?
Yours truly,


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

--- Richard Carlson <rccarl at pacbell.net> schrieb am Mo, 13.9.2010:


Von: Richard Carlson <rccarl at pacbell.net>
Betreff: Re: [Tweeters] Skagit Co Game Range - Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Black Phoebe still there
An: "Grace and Ollie Oliver" <grace.ollie at verizon.net>, tweeters at u.washington.edu
Datum: Montag, 13. September, 2010 17:14 Uhr





We were at the Game Range several hours before Ollie & missed the the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.? Apparently the Game Range Shorebirds do not arrive until after high tide.? We were there at 2 pm and there were only 2 Greater Yellowlegs.? More shorebirds didn't start to arrive until about 2:30 -- approx low tide at La Conner.?? When we left at about 3 there were flocks of Lesser Yellowlegs -- about 30 birds, more than I've ever seen in one spot --, maybe 20 LB Dowitcheers, and about 5 Greater Yellowlegs.? Same species at Pond 2 on the way out.? We heard but never saw the Black Phoebe.? We also heard but never saw what sounded like at Cassin's Vireo near teh parking area..

RCC

?Richard Carlson
Full-time Birder, Biker and Rotarian
Part-time Economist
Tucson, AZ, Lake Tahoe, CA, & Kirkland, WA
rccarl at pacbell.net
Tucson 520-760-4935
Tahoe 530-581-0624
Kirkland 425-828-3819
Cell 650-280-2965






From: Grace and Ollie Oliver <grace.ollie at verizon.net>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Sun, September 12, 2010 11:13:18 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Skagit Co Game Range - Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Black Phoebe still there







Tweeters,
We arrived at Game Range about 4:30pm this evening and as we were walking around the pond between both parking areas the Black Phoebe made an appearance.? It was hawking from a small branchy bush near the corner closest to entrance road drive in.?
We birded slowly out to pond 4 arriving about 5:15pm.? The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper was found about 6:30pm.? It tends to forage in the grasses and was with Dowitchers when found and flushed with that flock several times moving around the pond.? At one point it was near 2 Pectoral Sandpipers for a nice comparison.?
Additional shorebirds were a lot of Greater Yellowlegs, a few Lesser Yellowlegs, many LB Dowitchers, at least 1 SB Dowitcher juv., a few Black-bellied Plovers, a Wilson?s Snipe, Killdeer, a large flock of Western Sandpipers and at least 1 Least Sandpiper.?
Good birding,
Grace and Ollie Oliver
Redmond, WA
-----Integrierter Anhang folgt-----


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