Hey Tweets,

The gray clouds this morning brought Vaux's Swifts down from the
mountains. We saw two over the Edmonds marsh. There was also another
large flock of Barn Swallows migrating through. We see them on the
Sound and then they show up to feed at the marsh before pushing on
south. Over the last week, Cliff and Northern Rough-winged Swallows
(one each) have been spotted. The Rough-winged was a leucistic bird.
We watched an Osprey this morning fly over with a fish in its talons.
A young Cooper's Hawk also flew low over the marsh and ended up
perched on a fence railing for good photo opps.

A large flock of Bushtits has been hosting warblers for the last
couple of weeks. The regulars are Orange-crowned and Wilson's. On one
recent day a Black-throated Gray accompanied the flock.

Two species have been added to the year count, bringing it up to 161.
This morning two Lesser Yellowlegs dropped into the marsh in the
company of two Greater Yellowlegs. The Lesser is the new year species.
Last Sunday afternoon, August 11th, Seattle birder Dave Slager spotted
a juvenile Surfbird on the marina breakwater. We picked up his report
and excellent ID photo on eBird but, for reasons not understood, it
was not picked up as an eBird rare bird alert for Washington. It is a
code 5 bird, not only for Edmonds, but for Snohomish County. The last
Edmonds sightings we know of were in April 1996 and November 1999.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds