Subject: [Tweeters] N. Waterthrush YES and Rusty Blackbird NO at Skagit -
Date: Oct 31 04:57:26 2011
From: Bob Schmidt - bobs at world-wide.com


Tweeters,

I received a couple of concerned comments about my dog swimming with salmon
carcasses so I thought I should perhaps add a little more clarification. I
had actually run and swam my dog early in the morning but after meeting up
with Matt I had left him in the car a couple hours to maximize my chances
with the elusive Rusty Blackbird (a nemesis that has so far eluded me during
my birding career). So on the way home I stopped one more time at the Dike
Rd river access and "threw ball" a few times. At one point a couple of
salmon carcasses were floating down the river with a swimming
Glaucous-winged Gull in pursuit and that was a bird that my dog could see
and get excited about. However, dog, fish, and gull never came into contact
as dog is fairly obedient and I was watching him closely to avoid any
tasting (or rolling) in dead salmon. I would advise others to be careful
also. One other salmon note is that I did see just one very deteriorated
Pink male thrashing at the shoreline of the river earlier. I also forgot to
mention that I had the pleasure of meeting Gary Bletsch who pointed us to a
good sparrow spot (and birds) at the entrance of the Game Farm. Finally I
saw at least several thousand Snow Geese along Dike Road.

Happy trails.

Bob Schmidt, Bothell, WA

bobs at world hyphen wide dot com



From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Bob Schmidt
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2011 7:59 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: RE: [Tweeters] N. Waterthrush YES and Rusty Blackbird NO at Skagit
Game Range 10/30



I had the good fortune of meeting up with Matt Bartels just as I reached the
Northern Waterthrush spot at the Skagit Game Range off Wylie Road. I had
just seen a peregrine, some song sparrow, and my dog had flushed a snipe but
I had not started phishing. Phishing was not immediately effective but the
bird responded quickly to Matt's Ipod and gave good views. We spent the
next couple of hours scanning several mixed flocks of Starlings, Brewer's
Blackbirds, and Red-winged Blackbirds. The largest flock on Dike Rd on the
other side of the Skagit River had at least a thousand blackbirds including
a couple of Brown-headed but no Rusty we could find anywhere. Other good
birds for me were Fox, Lincoln , and Savanna Sparrow (1 to a few of each),
and 8 Eurasian Collared Doves all on the wires near the boat launch near the
corner of Fir Island and Dike Rd.



I had a great day and my dog did also, especially while swimming around some
Pink Salmon carcasses in the Skagit River.



Bob Schmidt, Bothell, WA

bobs at world hyphen wide dot com