Dear Tweeters,

At the Fir Island Game Range today, 8 February 2014, there were lots of birds, even though half the water was frozen. The NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH was easy to see along the slough that is to the right as one walks out from the old HQ parking area. It was calling quite a bit. Most surprising bird of the day for me was a LESSER YELLOWLEGS,?which seemed to be having trouble finding forage out on the mainly frozen ponds along the new dike. It called a few times, flew along the icy shoreline, then headed toward Hayton?Reserve.?A Virginia Rail was very cooperative out in the same area, acting chicken-like at the edge of the hedgerow along this dike. The sparrow tally here was not? very impressive today, however--just Song, Fox, and a single Lincoln's.

An ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD at Lyman also surprised me. This bird was in the now leafless butterfly? bush along the river, where I'd seen one last year during a warmer season. I think there is a feeder in town somewhere.

March Point was a good spot for shorebirding; among the thousands of Dunlin were one or two Western Sandpipers. At the frozen south end of Fidalgo Bay, in an Arctic-looking scene, a poor little Least Sandpiper was flying this way and that, looking for some mud that wasn't hard as rock.

At the Telegraph Slough access were quite a few Song and Fox Sparrows, plus a Wilson's Snipe.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch