Dear Tweeters,

Thanks to everyone who posted about the Okanogan County Painted Bunting. Dick Porter and I drove over today (15 July 2012) and got to see it a few minutes after we arrived at 0620. I also noticed the female bunting there feeding a juvenile bunting--presumably a juvenile Lazuli, or perhaps a PABU X LAZB hybrid?

Other excellent birds there near the spot where Siwash Creek crosses Siwash Creek Road included at least 18 Bobolinks, a couple of Chukar, and Lark Sparrows carrying food to young. We were buzzed briefly by a Black-chinned Hummingbird.

The Snowy Owl up the road at the corner of Wildermuth Road (sp?) and Havillah was a great bonus. If that bird had chosen to stay back a ways from Havillah Road, who knows how long it might have remained undetected. Where else but Washington would one get to see a Painted Bunting and a Snowy Owl within a few miles of each other in July?? By driving up Wildermuth a few hundred meters, we enjoyed great looks at Horned Larks, Vesper Sparrows, Swainson's Hawks, and more, all in the peaceful quietude of an Eastern Washington landscape.

Muskrat Lake had lots of birds, and Fields Lake was absolutely brimming with avian activity. We saw five Black Terns there, plus a few Bufflehead, Lesser Scaup, and baby Spotted Sandpipers.

At Loup Loup Snow Park were over 150 Red Crossbills, plus lots of Cassin's Finches and Western Bluebirds, and maybe ten Black Swifts.

A torrential rainstorm followed us home, with lots of lightning. There was a rather dramatic little mudslide on SR 20 between Loup Loup Snow Park and the junction with SR 153.

Thanks again to everyone who made the Painted Bunting known--it had been a personal jinx bird for me, dating back to the nineteen seventies. Life-bird, yay!

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch


Gary Bletsch?Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA?garybletsch at yahoo.com?"Nun," sagte ich, "wenn ich ein Taugenichts bin, so ist's gut, so will ich in die Welt gehen, und mein Glueck machen." Und eigentlich war mir das recht lieb, denn es war mir kurz vorher selber eingefallen, auf Reisen zu gehen, da ich die Goldammer, welche im Herbst und Winter immer betruebt an unserm Fenster sang: "Bauer, miet' mich, Bauer, miet' mich!" nun in der schoenen Fruehlingszeit wieder ganz stolz und lustig vom Baume rufen hoerte: "Bauer, behalt' deinen Dienst!"