Hello T community,


I was at Skagit Game range"headquarters'" area and vicinity between 2:30 and 7:00PM on Saturday. Spoke with Gary on his way out. My daughter and I saw the BLACK PHOEBE twice. Both times looking south, at the nearest trees and scrubs in the pond viewed from the largest parking lot near the boat launch and new toilets. I was just ready to video when a nice woman with two large retrievers approached and said: "have you seen that rare California bird that everybody is looking for"? Even as her dogs jumped into the water and swam toward the bird, which of course, instantly vanished. Still, I was happy with two nice long looks at a really beautiful species.


Many passerines moved into the areas around the ponds later in the afternoon. Because of the intense backlighting and the fact that I have a lot to learn about Warblers, I cannot list the species. High tide found few shorebirds- five Greater yellowlegs and I also flushed a bird that I was confident was a a Snipe until I noted a curved bill in flight. It made a long flight over the pond.
We found a Downey woodpecker and a nice collection of sparrows between parking lot and flood gate. They came into view later in the evening. I enjoyed seeing White-crowned sparrows -adult and juveniles at close range just off the path- really beautiful in the evening light.


A hunter and young son were searching the ponds without guns, "two day season for kids". The father said they had seen two Sandhill cranes that morning -"we usually see them in the Spring, not at this time of the year."



Also, a few hundred, in small flocks, A. Pipits, several at close range with Merlin chase in the fields outside the game range. The highlight of the day was a very unusual, very light Red- tailed hawk. It was the only bird I saw at close range in ideal light yesterday and unlike any of the hundreds of Red-tailed I have seen or photographed, it made 10- 12 tight ovals above the edge of the parking lot at 60-90 feet height. It was focused on something we could not see. Extremely unusual behavior in my experience. The bird appeared to be an adult Kreider's. An Intermediate phase adult flew into the same area within seconds of the first moving on, giving a nice contrast and confirmation that the very light bird's coloration was was not an artifact of bright light. Some people from Southwestern WA may have gotten a photo, but they are not on Tweeters. Beautiful bird and unusually great show.


Dan Reiff