Dear Tweeters,

The Western Tanager that was found last week at Skagit Wild Bird Supply was there today, 23rd February 2014. This place is on Memorial Highway, west of Mount Vernon. The feeders had hundreds of birds, mostly Red-winged Blackbirds, with a few American Goldfinches, juncoes, and so forth. As I was watching those birds, the tanager flew in and began foraging on bare earth, always near shrubbery for cover. It stayed near the northwest corner of the building the whole time.

The Western Tanager that I saw on Samish Island on December 1 was a female; today's bird was a male.

It is quite snowy in parts of Skagit County now, although it is patchily distributed. I hope the tanager can survive the storm.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch