Dear Tweeters,
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Today (16 September 2012) I birded from the Lyman area to Fir Island. Highlights were an intriguing sparrow and a Stilt Sandpiper.
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At Nichols Bar (Skagit County park on Robinson Road west of Lyman) were lots of migrant passerines. Unfortunately, several villages had all chosen to give their idiots the same day off.?Convening at this?usually empty river bar, these yokels were just in time to scare off? a bird that I think was a Brewer's Sparrow. It was very grey, with a streaked crown, pale lores,?greyish-white throat,? pale grey washed-out facial pattern,? whisker stripes, and faint breast streaks. I will have to let this one go, though--the three looks I had were too brief. Other birds here included Black-throated Grey, Orange-crowned, and Audubon's Warblers, Western Tanager,? Swainson's Thrushes, Black-headed Grosbeak, American Pipit, and Warbling and Hutton's Vireo.
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At the Game Range on Fir Island, it took quite a bit of squinting to find the birds in the glare, but it was worth the search. Besides the Stilt Sandpiper, there were quite a few Long-billed Dowitchers, one Short-billed, lots of Greater Yellowlegs, and a few Lessers. Purple Finches were all over the place.
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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!"