I want to say thank you to the Tweeters list, the participants and the
people that make it possible.

My wife and I started "birding" about 8 months ago in May. Before that my
knowledge of birds was limited to being able to identify the Robin, Crow and
Bald Eagle and that might even be overstating it. I found out about Tweeters
during the summer and have benefited greatly from all the information
circulated.

I also want to give special thanks to Gary Bletsch and David Gluckman. Gary
has so patiently answered beginner questions and given such great detail
about where to go in the Skagit area. David has also helped by answering
many questions including several about bird photography.

I really appreciate the trip reports, rare sightings, behavioral
discussions, and various other topics. I've been able to make it out to see
the Acorn Woodpecker and the Bohemian Wax Wings at Magnuson. I suppose my
wife and I might even consider ourselves beginning "Twitchers". For our
first year we have a list of 130 species(not a big list but a start). So far
we have added 6 new ones for 2011.

We are also trying to up our yard list too. We are at 31 and hope with some
landscaping effort focused on bird friendly items we can grow that to well
over 50 this years.

Thanks again to everyone associated with Tweeters.

Doug Schurman
Olympic Hills, Seattle