I had some time to bird on Vashon yesterday and found ten or so Eared Grebes
spread around Tramp Harbor. They actually about equaled the number of
Horned Grebes. Harsi and Ezra Parker have been mentioning to me that
they're seeing multiple groups of Eareds, some of the groups getting up to
nine birds. It seems like an up year for them in Tramp Harbor, though there
are always some in winter there. Horned Grebes seem surprisingly low.
Red-necked Grebes also seemed to be present in larger than usual numbers.



I also saw four American Kestrels, 3 at Wax Orchards and 1 at the Matsuda
Farm Land Trust Preserve. That's the most kestrels seen in a day on the
Island before.



Saw a lot of good birds today. The CBC is Sunday, January 3. There's still
room for more if you'd like to join the last CBC of the year. Contact Ezra
Parker, this year's coordinator at ezra at cfgrok.com.



Ed Swan

Nature writer and guide

<http://www.theswancompany.com/> www.theswancompany.com

edswan2 at comcast.net

206.949.3545