Dear Tweeters,
Today, 28 April 2016, the Black Phoebe found recently by Ryan Merrill was still present at the Fir Island Game Range.?
Luckily for me, I decided to check first where I had last seen one in Skagit County, back on 19 March 2011. The bird showed up immediately, right where I'd last seen one--at the little pump house just east of the Great Horned Owl nest, not far from a little red hunters' cottage on the dike near the boat launch. The bird looked rather brownish-black rather than slaty blackish. The sharp call note made it easy to follow the bird as it moved from perch to perch.
When I walked out to where Ryan had seen the bird, by the dike junction, I did not see the Phoebe. When I walked back to view the owl nest, the Phoebe was calling from brush just a bit west of the owl nest. I reckon it is working back and forth along the sloughs here.
There were superb views of peeps, Dunlin, dowitchers, and various ducks at sundown here this evening. A pair each of Blue-winged and Cinnamon Teal were present, as they were last week.
Yours truly,
Gary Bletsch