Subject: [Tweeters] Field Trip and New Scope
Date: Nov 28 10:07:17 2011
From: Carol & Lynn Schulz - carol.schulz50 at gmail.com


Hi Tweets:
Here's a kinda-chatty note I sent to a list of Rainier Audubon folks. At the bottom I mention my new cheap scope, and a stop at the mouth of the Cedar River.
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Hi Folks:
Our after-Thanksgiving RAS fieldtrip "East Lake WA Parks and Trails" on Sat, Nov
26 was really
nice w/ good people and very-nice weather. It was cloudy w/ an occas.
sunbreak, temps 50-55! No wind. I told the folks about our after-Thksgiv.
trip last year to the
Arboretum, Montlake Fill, and Magnuson Park. The ponds had been frozen and
there was snow on the ground. Very cold. So we lucked out this year.
No rarities, but we saw a Spotted Sandpiper in w/ ducks along the shore at
Newcastle
Park, and saw 10 swans at Juanita Bay. I believe one was a Tundra Swan
and the rest were Trumpeters, but the Tundra slept a lot and rarely raised
its head. There was a Calif. Gull in with many Ring-billed Gulls and
Glauc-winged hybrids at Juanita Beach Park.
Now, call me cheap: My fancy KOWA scope is being repaired, so I bought a
relatively cheap ALPEN Mod 788 Scope and we used it on the trip. It's
great. It's a big one w/ an 80mm objective (about 4 inches across) and an angled
eyepiece going from 20-60X. It's all waterproof. It does not have the
fancy ED glass but is still highly rated by Birdwatcher's Digest. I got it
at Sportco in Fife for $360. Add to that my yearly membership of $20. to
get 5% off of anything I buy. Then add tx of $33.48 for a total of $413.53.
Compare that to a replacement cost of around $3000. !! for my big KOWA
scope.
I also use an Alpen pair of waterproof bins that I paid about $200. for at
Sportco. I bought them 2 years ago. They are waterproof and I like them
a lot. Alpens are made in China.
It figures that the Snowy Owl being seen in Renton that was seen yesterday by Dan Reiff is eating gulls. On Sat after the field trip, I stopped off at the mouth of the
Cedar River in Renton to view the hundreds of gulls on the sandbars. Lots of good
birds, but no gull rarities. I only saw 2 Thayers Gulls, a beautiful
Western Gull, a number of
Ring-billed Gulls and Mew Gulls. Hundreds of Gl-winged Gulls and
hybrids. There was one Dunlin on the driftwood out from the river mouth, and 7 Canvasbacks in the lake to the west. I could see
hundreds of gulls over on the log booms of Coulon Park, but didn't get over there to view them.
A lot of the gulls
return from the Cedar Hills landfill to Renton in the late afternoon. I was
in Renton about 2:45 to 3:45pm on Sat. Guess I should have shopped at
Target and Frye's to see a Snowy Owl!
Yours, Carol Schulz
Des Moines
carol.schulz50 at gmail