Dear Tweeters,

Today (2 January 2011) was the Padilla Bay Christmas Bird Count. We enjoyed stunningly beautiful weather, despite cold temperatures that started off in the low twenties.

If I remember correctly from the compilation, there were about 137 species tallied in all.

Here are some highlights.

Hybrid Bucephala X Lophodytes duck. This may be a Hooded Merganser X Common Goldeneye or Hooded Merganser X Bufflehead. Oddly enough, I was in the process of relating to Keith and Jan Wiggers that I had once seen a Barrow's X Common Goldeneye just offshore from Thousand Trails RV Park, when this hybrid popped up in front of us, in the exact spot where the other hybrid had once appeared. Keith took some photos, but it was very hard for him to get good shots, as the bird was feeding actively. We saw it eat what appeared to be a small crab. This duck was bigger than a Bufflehead but smaller than Common Goldeneye. We observed it for half an hour. It had a brown head with a merganser-type crest, but not like that of a Hoody or that of any Mergus. It was a brown crest with no wisps, and the bird would flare it out and then retract it just before each dive. The breast was white with grey mottles or streaks. There was a faint, small, oval spot of paleness (not
really white) below the eye, much like that of a Common Goldeneye. The bill was not right for any species we could think of, but was sort of a cross between a "sawbill" and a Bucephala bill, and was all dark. The bird had a whitish underside, and a white wing mark that showed as a small white checker while the bird swam. The vent was white. The back was dark grey-brown. The flanks were mottled grey and darker grey. I sketched the head. I'd share the picture on Tweeters, but I already promised the Louvre that I'd display it there. You know those Frenchmen.

Prairie Falcon: Phil and Kathy Green were not doing the count, but spotted this bird just south of Memorial Highway, on Bradshaw Road I think.

Shorebirds: the area where the Wiggers and I counted had seven species: Black Oystercatcher, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Wilson's Snipe, Spotted Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, and Black Turnstone. Other areas had Black-bellied Plover, Dowitcher species, and I think Western Sandpiper maybe.

Gulls: Bonaparte's, Herring, Western, and Thayer's were seen, but no Californias.

Bohemian Waxwing: Mary Sue and Lee Dallas photographed one on the corner of Higgins Airport Way and Ovenell Road, near where a man is building a greenhouse.

Townsend's Solitaire: one at Washington Park, in the usual spot.

Townsend's Warbler: one.

American Tree Sparrow: one along Allen West Road near the tavern, where there are two houses with well-stocked feeders on south side of the road.

Yours truly,


Gary Bletsch ? Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA ? garybletsch at yahoo.com ? ?