Dear Tweeters,

Yesterday I sent a message to Tweeters about a Franklin's Gull that I had found on the Samish Flats, but the message appears to have been lost.

Today (19 October 2014) I relocated the Franklin's Gull. It was with Ring-billed and Glaucous-winged Gulls, just a few steps east of the T-90. Just as yesterday, it was on the muddy ground, near some farm equipment, although today it was a mile or so west of where it was yesterday.

By late morning, it was horribly windy, everywhere I went on the coast today. Rosario Head was nearly un-birdable. Green Point was a bit more sheltered, so I managed to ID a few more birds there, including my first Herring Gull of this autumn.

Cackling Geese showed up near Lyman and also on Samish Flats today, moving around in flocks of twenty to fifty or more.

My birding day started off with a Sharp-shinned Hawk taking a passerine from near my feeders. The Sharpie made the mistake of carrying the bird off into a neighboring pasture. If it had stayed in the narrow strip of grass between my house and some evergreens, no one but me would have known about the prey item. As soon as the Sharpie landed in the pasture, a Red-tailed Hawk zoomed in and bumped the Sharpie off the prey.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch