This afternoon I was at work when a nice surprise arrived in my email. I got
the Tweeters notification from Doug Parrott about a Black Phoebe in Magnuson
Park.



This was very exciting. I work on Capitol Hill and had a meeting scheduled
in Magnuson Park at 7pm. I could arrive early and probably have 30 minutes
to locate the bird.



Then it occurred to me. Ot Oh! I don't have any binoculars with me, I've
never seen this bird before and I don't know its call.



I figured I might as well go down there and see what happens. Doug gave good
directions and I thought I knew exactly where he was talking about. Plus,
who knows I might just get lucky and run into someone else looking for the
Phoebe who is better prepared.



I first scanned the pond on the East side of the street and found a Greater
Yellowlegs before finding the spot Doug was talking about at 6:20pm. I
started scanning the area. There were Barn and Violet-green Swallows flying,
bunches of Robins, some Song Sparrows, a White-crowned Sparrow, Red-winged
Blackbird and a calling California Quail in the distance but no Black
Phoebe. I must have been there about 10-15 minutes when a guy walks around
this corner to the dead-end path I was on. He had a pair of binoculars.
First thing I say is "Are you looking for the Black Phoebe?". He says yes
and ask if I have seen it. I reply no but I was hopping with your binoculars
we might have a better chance.



As luck would have it in California he previously lived and had Black
Phoebes coming to his feeder regularly so was quite familiar with the
species. We stayed there for several minutes and then moved back over to the
Crescent pond across the street. The Yellowlegs was still there but no sign
of the Phoebe. By now it was getting about the time I needed to go to get to
my meeting on the other side of the park. John (the guy with the binoculars)
was going to go back to the original pond and I needed to go so we parted
ways. I had parked just North of the ponds on the road which meant I had to
drive right by the ponds on the way out.



I get in my truck and turned around and I start driving toward the ponds. I
see John on the side of the road. He's looking at me in the truck and as I
approach he gives me the thumbs up. I pull up beside his and he says I found
the Phoebe. It is just across the pond on the second rock stair. I pull over
where there is no shoulder, flip on my hazards light and run around the
truck to where he is. He hands me the binocs and I had a nice look at my
first Black Phoebe. Awesome, new life bird.



It certainly seemed like the stars had lined up in my favor tonight.



I want to thank Doug Parrott for finding and reporting it on Tweeters and
John Puschock for re-finding it, flagging me down and letting me peek
through his binoculars.



In addition, thank you to all the wonderful Tweeters folks who are reporting
sightings and being so generous in the field with their time and expertise.
This has happened a number of times where I have driven up to a spot and
fellow tweeters are already there and are happy to point out the unusual
suspect.



Good birding to all,



Doug Schurman

NE Seattle