Hi all,
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This morning, December 24, I birded around the Brady Loop area.? Following up on Lonnie Somer's post about a swan with a pinkish bill, I scanned the swan flock that was located on the southwest side of the loop by the house/farm with all the Guinea Fowl.? I first picked out a few Tundras and made my way though the more abundant Trumpeters when I found the pink bill.? Very nice adult bird with full white plumage, black bulbous top of the bill with black all around the base and a black tip that surrounded a pinkish overall coloration.? It could have had a little orange in it, but the swans were distant in some low lying ground fog.? This being my first Mute Swan, I checked my Nat-Geo guide and confirmed.? I could not pick out any leg bands and the bird was behaving just like the rest of the swans it was with.
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I also located a White-throated Sparrow with a big group of Golden-crowned Sparrows along Foster road?in a blackberry bramble at the slough crossing just north of the house with the semi-trucks parked in the yard.
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I was tempted with Ocean Shores today, but I'll be heading there after Christmas.? Merry Christmas everyone!
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Good birding!
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Tim O'Brien
Cheney, WA (currently in Elma)
mailto: kertim7179? at ?yahoo dot com