Dear Tweeters,

Today (18 November 2012) a Snowy Owl was at Hayton Preserve on Fir Island. I can't figure out why Skagit County has been so apparently unattractive to this species during this recent go-round. If I am not mistaken, Seattle has had more Snowy Owls than Samish Flats and Fir Island put together. Anyway, it was nice to get some?fairly close?looks at this owl, which had a goodly amount of black marking on it.

Yesterday (17 November), a Thayer's Gull was at Lions Park in Mt Vernon. Today, a Herring Gull joined the flock of Glaucous-winged Gulls just north of the Samish West Ninety.

Yours truly,

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!"