Hey tweets!

I decided mid-morning that I should use one of the mid-winter break days to bird out on the Olympic peninsula. I missed a few really rare birds, but had a good day nonetheless.

Highlights: in Jefferson county, I made only two stops: Shine Tidelands (Common Loon, Pigeon Guillemot, White-winged Scoter, Surf Scoter, and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet in the trees on shore.) and Crocker Lake (Ring-necked Duck, Fox Sparrow, Downt Woodpecker), but these two stops were enough to push me over 100 in Jefferson (five counties to go!).

In Clallam County, I was six birds shy of 150, and there were a lot of good birds sighted recently (emperor goose, rusty blackbird, thick-billed murre, and black-legged kittiwake would all have been life birds, but none were seen). Long-tailed Ducks were seen at a both John Wayne Marina and Sequim Bay State park, and there were Black Oystercatchers as well at John Wayne. The six birds that put me over: Ring-necked Duck (At Knapp road, where I was as disappointed to find no shovelers, as I was to find no emperor goose), Downy Woodpecker (Sequim Bay pullout), Pied-billed Grebe (knapp road and Sequim bay state park), Western Meadowlark (singing on Schmuck Road), Barrows Goldeneye (John Wayne marina) and finally a Eurasian Wigeon at Carrie Blake Park.

Happy birding!

Tim Brennan
Renton