On Wednesday afternoon I birded Crescent Lake WMA just south of
Monroe. As usual there were a lot of sparrows:

15 Spotted Towhee
15 Savannah Sparrow
12 Sooty Fox Sparrow
1 RED FOX SPARROW - http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjm284/6433888219/
50 Song Sparrow
35 Lincoln's Sparrow
2 SWAMP SPARROW
2 White-throated Sparrow
35 White-crowned Sparrow
140 Golden-crowned Sparrow
240 Oregon Junco

Yesterday I birded around Fir Island. Along Mann Rd there was a
sapsucker, I believe the first I've ever seen on Fir Island.
Unfortunately I couldn't tell what species it was, but it seemed to
not be Red-breasted. There were quite a few birds at the Skagit Game
Range, though none of my hoped-for redpolls. The Northern Waterthrush
and Common Yellowthroat both continue. Along the outer part of the
old dike there was a female Hairy Woodpecker of the interior race,
likely the same bird that was there in late September? From the end
of the dike I scoped what seemed to be a light morph Harlan's Hawk
perched in the distance to the east. It was extremely white through
the breast and belly with a few dark streaks on the sides of the
belly. The head had the spectacled pattern around the eye that
Harlan's often have, as well as other white streaking. I never saw
the back of the bird or the tail, but hopefully it will stick around
for awhile. Also visible from there was a Snowy Owl.

At the intersection of Polson Rd and Skagit City Road I had great
views of another RED FOX SPARROW. It looked very similar to the
Monroe bird, but had more prominent streaking on the back.

Good birding,
Ryan Merrill
Kirkland