Hi Tweets,

Our Monthly westside WOS Chase trip stopped at Gog-le-hi-te wetlands, American Lake, Mounts Road, and Hawk's Prairie water reclamation site.

We attempted to relocate the Slaty-backed Gull at Gog-le-hi-te wetlands this morning with no luck. The Red-shouldered Hawk was seen several times.

Next stop was American Lake where we had three flyover Swallows, likely Tree as the call notes drew my attention upward. They were flying east away from the lake and were not seen again. A dark Merlin was also seen hunting in the trees near the lake, but the recently reported Redhead was not.

We moved on to Mounts Road to try for the reported Swamp Sparrow where the sun finally began to show itself. We parked at the end of the road and began walking back up the road when we heard the Swamp Sparrow's repeated chip note for a couple of minutes. It briefly showed itself while flying low and dropped down into the grass. After about 20 minutes of unsuccessfully waiting for it to reappear (we did not use playback), it quickly flew left, dropped down, and then flew right again and disappeared. There were approximately 4-6 Song Sparrows in the vicinity and the color difference as the Swamp flew offered up tantalizing views of the bird.

We moved on to Hawk's Prairie water reclamation site where our target was the Black Phoebe. We walked in a clockwise direction and upon nearing the constructed wetlands we began hearing the Phoebe calls. We located the sallying Phoebe and several minutes later realized that we were hearing two birds. Our group confirmed that there are in fact 2 Phoebe's on the site. There are several benches surrounding the constructed wetlands that offered excellent views of the hunting Phoebe's. Possible breeding site? Additional highlights here were Coopers and Sharp-shinned Hawk.

We headed back to the Gog-le-hi-te wetlands to look for the Slaty-backed Gull again. It was not located. Gulls seen were Thayer's, Western, GW, Western/GW hybrids, Herring, and Mew. The Red-shouldered Hawk was seen again as well as a Brown Creeper.

Beautiful day with beautiful birds and people!

Cheers,

Amy Schillinger