4 of us were at the Skagit Game Range from about 7 to 11 a.m. Tuesday. The
shorebirds really started to arrive at about 8:30. Mostly Yellow-legs (both
Greater & Lesser), LB Dowitchers, & Westerns, but also 3 Knots, 10 BB Plover, 5
Snipe, 10 Pectorals & 1 Sharp-tailed. This Sharp-tailed was with a
Pectoral/Western group on pond 3. We had to shuttle among all 4 ponds as the
flocks moved around. All the birds were forced out by the incoming tide by
about 11.


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: Gary Bletsch <garybletsch at yahoo.com>
To: tweeters tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tue, September 14, 2010 8:56:49 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Skagit Blk Phoebe, Sharp-tailed S

Dear Tweeters,

Today at the Game Range on Fir Island, the Black Phoebe showed itself at about
midday, directly in front of the gap in the parking-lot fence, right where it
has been seen on and off since August 20, when Bob Hamblin first found it.

A number of birders waited around for the high tide to recede, and were rewarded
with decent views of a (or "the") Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. This bird was in the
fourth pond, as usual. There were a very few Pectoral Sandpipers present, but
none of them were anywhere near the Sharp-tailed. This is the third time I have
seen the Sharp-tailed out there this month, and today, as on the two other
times, it foraged with Westerns, not with Pectorals that were present on one of
the other ponds. I might add that Josh Parrott photographed TWO Sharp-tails here
last week, so there may be more than just the one bird in this area.

I also saw one Western Tanager out there today, and lots of Audubon's Warblers.

Also at the Game Range today were the first waterfowl hunters I have seen in
Skagit this season, going after Canadas. I very much hesitate to bring this up,
but there was an ugly exchange between one hunter and a group of birders. I
would venture to say that an unbiased observer who had witnessed the interaction
would say the hunter was being rude and unreasonable. That, however, does not
matter. I have already heard mutterings by state fish and game officials,
wondering whether such sites "need" to be restricted to hunters only during
hunting seasons. Birders visiting the Fir Island Game Range in the next few
weeks will be pursuing shorebirds, at what has become the best shorebirding spot
in the county--right in an area where waterfowl hunters set up. Things will
presumably get interesting.

At DeBay's Slough today was a Hairy Woodpecker, a Rufous Hummingbird, a Vaux's
Swift, a Swainson's Thrush, and a Lincoln's Sparrow. There are relatively few
waterfowl at DeBay's right now.

Yours truly,

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


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