Dear Tweeters,

Dick Abbott and I were standing around near the boat-launch parking area of the Skagit Game Range yesterday, July 20, when a juvenile duck flew in close by. It was a dabbler, probably a young Gadwall. It appeared to be dangling its lower mandible. Upon close observation, it appeared that this bird either had suffered an unusual injury to its bill, or it may have had a strange growth from its chin--almost as if its bill had three instead of two mandibles, with a third, useless one merely dangling below, giving it a perpetual open-mouthed look.

This duck seemed quite healthy, dabbling on the shoreline and preening. I could never tell whether it really had three mandibles, or two with one somehow horribly split into two, or what. The lowest, projecting one seemed fleshy. It is possible that only the central part of its lower mandible had somehow been sheared off, leaving the rim of the lower mandbile intact. I took some miserable photos, which I could send to someone if they were interested.

Also at the Game Range were about 150 peeps of three species, mostly Westerns, with quite a few Leasts, and at least three Semipalmated Sandpipers. With four or five Greater Yellowlegs was a lone Lesser. Two Semipalmated Plover foraged with the peeps.

At Northern State Recreation Area near Sedro-Woolley, a Wilson's Warbler was singing. That was a bit of a surprise.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch


Gary Bletsch?Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA?garybletsch at yahoo.com?Mentre che li occhi per la fronda verde
ficcava ?o s? come far suole
chi dietro a li uccellin sua vita perde, lo pi? che padre mi dicea: ?Figliuole,
vienne oramai, ch? ?l tempo che n?? imposto
pi? utilmente compartir si vuole?.??