Scott Hoskin and I just returned from a weekend at Palmer Lake enjoying some wickedly good looks at the Ross's Gull. We arrived late Saturday afternoon just as the gull alighted on the deer carcass and fed, while we watched from the roadside. During our time watching the gull, a Northern Shrike flew low overhead in hot pursuit of a panicked House Finch. Our Christmas morning was complete with additional long looks of the gull feeding. As the wind arose late morning making it uncomfortable to watch an empty carcass; we spent the rest of the day birding in the Sinlahekin Valley. Not much extraordinary there, although we did find an excellent mixed feeding flock of Brown Creepers, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Hairy Woodpecker, Clark's Nutcrackers, Steller's Jays, Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped and Mountain Chickadee at Forde Lake. Monday morning we joined a large group of birders at the north end of Palmer Lake to watch the gull resting on the ice; somewhat apart from the other birds present - three Bald Eagles, several Trumpeter Swans, and Common Mergansers. After a prolonged period of rest the gull got up and did several circular routes around the north end of the lake till it flew south. We all headed directly to the deer carcass. The Ross's Gull appeared at the carcass approximately 20 minutes later. Our return to Seattle was severely delayed by the incredible views of this lovely bird.
All and all a great way to spend the holiday weekend. We found all the locals, including the nearby property owner to be incredibly kind, generous and nearly as excited about the Ross's Gull as all of the intrepid birders from the "coast". If you are heading there this week or planning on getting the bird for 2012 and need a place to stay, there is a vacation rental in Loomis - Big Horn Bunk House - probably THE most convenient place to stay in order to have a Ross's Gull as the first bird of 2012.
On our way back we located a Prairie Falcon at 323 South Pine Creek Road.

Penny Rose
Ramblin' Rose Birding Adventures
1531 NW 62nd Street
Seattle, WA 98107
206.619.1203
rosebirding at comcast.net

Get Outside ? Go Birding

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20111226/6a927372/attachment.htm