Dear Tweeters,

Today I led a Skagit Audubon field trip at the new Skagit county park near Lyman (Nichols Bar). We saw a remarkable variety of warblers here and on the "Cascade Trail" between Robinson Road and Minkler Lake. There were scores of Yellow-rumps, maybe ten Townsend's, a few Black-throated Grey, one Yellow, one Orange-crowned, and two Wilson's. We also saw a single W. Tanager. A Hutton's Vireo surprised us by singing up a storm, and eventually giving pretty good looks.

At Lyman, an Osprey flew over the river overlook. There were no shorebirds here (mud is now gone, water is high), but there were a few waterfowl.

Afterwards, I visited the Fir Island Game Range. I didn't try too hard for the Black Phoebe; I did not see it. I spent a good two hours at the shorebird ponds here, but could not find the Sharp-tailed. A Peregrine had the shorebirds all riled up. There were perhaps 30 Greater and 15 Lesser Yellowlegs, maybe 15 LB Dowitchers, a Killdeer, and six Pectorals. Only 4 Western and about fifteen Leasts were present.

Good numbers of American Pipits could be seen at various spots on Fir Island.

It was windy nearly all day today, putting a serious crimp on the birding.

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