Hi Tweeters,
Bill and I finally had a free day to make a dash to the ocean to see if we could find some of the birds people have been reporting. At about 11:30 this morning we found the Emperor Goose on the golf course at Ocean Shores with a small flock of Cackling Geese. One of the CAGO had a big reddish collar. We drove to Perch Street off of Canal Street and the flock was practically right by the road, so we got some good pictures. From there, we headed out to what's left of Damon Point. We hiked out a ways and could see one Snowy Owl way out of the end of the spit. We decided to take the bit of paved road that's left on the far end of the point. At the end of the road we headed west and saw at least 4 Snowy Owls and several photographers. We then returned and, still way out on the point, heard a Ring-necked Pheasant. Back near our car we were stalking small birds in the campground next to the point when we happened upon the Palm Warbler bathing in a small pool of water. It was hanging out with some Golden-crowned Sparrows. We looked, but failed to find the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
The weather was quite temperate today with little wind, so birding was very pleasant.

Charlotte Byers, Seattle