YES ! But, after reading Stefan Schlick's and Mike Fleming's post this morning about their field trip disappointments, I saw a couple more (posts, not birds) this afternoon, indicating a nice collection of owls (Long-eared) and a horde (a mere 15,000) of Dunlin seeming to be sequestered north of the border, at Boundary Bay, Reifel Refuge, etc., and 2 Snowy Owls near Horse Heaven Hills in E. WA. Not all is or are lost... Oh, and then we have Rachel's post about having seen a stooping Peregrine and hundreds of Dunlin on Dec. 22, and other reports of a couple of Snowies at BB and a trickling of reports about a possible early spring (signs being Song Sparrows in yards, doing their spring calls and Varied Thrushes disappearing early from some yards). Things just are not on the schedules many of us count on, including the weather.

What a mixed-up winter - I'll bet many of us have gotten so used to the wondrous winter birdage of recent winters, that we are spoiled and just grumpy because Snowies are on the east coast this year and because numbers are down for many other birds here this year. Don't forget the Gyrfalcons, though - go back and revisit Bob Kothenbeutel's and Warren Clemans' great photos of the Snohomish beauty that they each posted on Tweeters. Warren has a Boundary Bay pic (LEOW) and a Black-crowned Night Heron one now posted on Tweeters (from Canada), as well.

Yesterday, I gained a renewed appreciation for some of the 'smaller' things, on my trip up to spots in the Stillasamish Flats (skipped Eide Rd. and the Skagit). Smaller things like blue sky and sun, no hunters on Boe Rd., dozens of eagles at nests and nearby along Thomle Rd. and Norman Rd., trees along a driveway on Norman Rd. with "12"s tacked on their trunks, capturing a photo of a kestrel with a vole (my best Kestrel shot ever !), 4 Short-eared Owls low-flying and some say sparring (I missed that) at West 90, spotting an SEOW on a post using my scope and sharing the view with another interested visitor, and, of course, the pollution-induced sunset sky, also at W-90. Seems it's often the unexpected things that make an otherwise 'usual' or 'slow' day, a special one to remember.

To see a few special photos of mine for yesterday, Jan. 20, see:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjR2DS6J


Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net

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