Good morning Tweeters,

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Yesterday (Saturday), Dave and Sherry Hayden, Barb McDowell, and I birded in and around the Leavenworth area, which was pretty much a new birding region for all of us.? Here are a few of the highlights:

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Hwy 97 between MP 172 & 173.? In a couple of pull-outs on either side of the highway were 40+ EVENING GROSBEAKS picking at small particles of gravel, presumably to aid with their digestion.? Mixed in were a small number of CASSIN'S FINCHES and PINE SISKINS.

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Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery:? It took a while, but we finally located our target bird, WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER.? A few of the other species seen or heard include: YELLOW, YELLOW-RUMPED,?& WILSON'S WARBLERS, CHIPPING & SONG SPARROWS, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, CASSIN'S & WARBLING VIREOS, DOWNY WOODPECKER, N. FLICKER, WESTERN TANAGER, SWAINSON'S THRUSH, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, EVENING GROSBEAK, SPOTTED SANDPIPER.? I believe that I head the rattle call of an A. DIPPER, but wasn't able to spot it.

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Blackbird Island:? Lots of people and the birds were fairly quiet.? We did find our target species, VEERY, after a bit of effort.? We probably heard 2, and got a wonderful look at 1 very cooperative individual.? Their song reminds me of that of a Swainson's Thrush on acid.? Other species seen include : RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, N. ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW mixed in with mostly Violet-greens and Cliffs with a couple of Barn Swallows.? We did not see a single Tree Swallow all day.

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Devil's Gulch (we mostly went there just because of the cool name of the location).? In addition to lots of mosquitoes (which happily fed mostly on the women), the lower section of the trail had several calling MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLERS.? Most were being sneaky as usual, but a few did pop up into view.? One in particular sat on a branch in the open for several minutes.? Through the scope, we could even see individual throat feathers.? Very striking bird.? The lower portion of the trail also had at least 3 calling Veerys, one of which showed itself briefly.? Farther upslope, we we able to get an excellent look at a TOWNSEND'S WARBLER.

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Miscellaneous:? LAZULI BUNTING, A. KESTREL, RED-TAILED HAWK, BALD EAGLE, TURKEY VULTURE. VAUX'S SWIFTS

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Missed birds included almost all of the local flycatchers, nighthawks, hummingbirds, Red-eyed-Vireo.

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Good birding,

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Lonnie Somer

Olympia

wheelermombi at comcast.net