Subject: [Tweeters] A few lesser Mason/Kitsap Co birds,
Date: Feb 3 22:04:11 2014
From: Stefan Schlick - greenfant at hotmail.com


I spent last weekend county birding in Mason and Kitsap Co and successfully reached my goal of 100+ species in both counties.
The Willet at Belfair State Park was there first thing in the morning at high tide last Sunday morning, along with 20 or so Dunlin. Its faithful companion, the Marbled Godwit, was nowhere to be seen. Theler Wetlands in Belfair was good for Pileated and Downy Woodpecker, plus a bonus Hutton's Vireo. Boy, Mason Co is tough!
Onto Kitsap Co ... Point No Point yielded 6 Marbled Murrelets, all 3 regular loons, many Bonaparte's Gulls and a Western Scrub Jay. 50+ Ruddy Ducks at Long Lake seemed at lot. The park at the SE corner of Kitsap Lake had a Canvasback. A Harlequin Duck, Brandt's Cormorant and Hutton's Vireo were at Manchester SP. I tried to get into Green Mountain SF, but found all gates closed, so had to hike in. Birds were far and few between, with Pileated Woodpecker and a large flock of Red Crossbills being the highlights.
I used ebird a lot to find the best birding spots in the area. A few spots were disappointing, others pretty decent. There are several things that ebird can't tell you: If a bird is no longer seen, access to a birding location, the exact spot where the bird was seen, info on how to bird a location (tides, time of day, ...). Here's a perfect example from my neck of the woods, Emma Jones Nature Preserve in Hillsboro. I've logged 300+ trips to this little gem of a spot. Without key, you can't even get in. While I can offer to take folks out (since I have a key), you can't get that info from ebird. But what ebird can give you is a rough idea of how good an area is.
What I also seem to be noticing is there are a lot of ebird posters that I don't know, so ebird definitely attracts a different crowd. It gives the impression of being more anonymous, but that may be deceiving. Even with the above downsides of ebird, the use of Tweeters (and OBOL) as a tool to report sightings may be going the way of the good old hotline. Many good sightings don't even make it onto Tweeters any more. We are right now in some kind of twilight, with some birds being reported on one, but not the other and to get the full picture, you need to check both.
Stefan SchlickHillsboro, OR