Subject: [Tweeters] Re: progress report from a Dutchman in Washington state
Date: Aug 11 22:55:48 2016
From: Roland van der Vliet - rollie_nl at yahoo.com


Dear tweeters,A final update before I leave for a one-week trip to the Olympic peninsula. I must have written my previous message in a hurry because not only were some sentences phrased in a mediocre way but I also left out one great day out in the field! Thanks to a suggestion by Michael Donahue, I went on an orca trip from Anacortes which was totally with it! I even saw Orca grandma of 105 years old. I heard she was on the news that same evening as we saw it. So these were happy times.
Since my previous message, i tried hard to get some more lifers but birding in forest in August and in the afternoon (as I do not want to disturb the sleep of my two little boys) does not make for a good combination... I visited Fort Simcoe (with its Lewis Woodpeckers and nice old buildings for my 3year-old), Sunrise (with Clark's Nutcracker but with Mt Fremont trail out of reach being with the kids) and White Pass (with hardly any sighting of note). I thus tried for woodpeckers and subalpine species withou much success.
Fortunately however, I have still one week left of my current trip (in which I hope to see Tufted Puffin and perhaps an owl or two (Northern Pygmy?, Spotted even?), Sooty Grouse or perhaps even Black Swift!). Also, I am pretty certain I will revisit Washington state in the near future (say two or three years) so I will have another go at the species I missed this trip. I will especially target the species east of he Cascades then. I know now that I should not underestimate traveling distances and thus traveling time...
Perhaps I will post one last message after coming trip. As for now, I want to thank all of you who responded and helped. I will remain a tweeter but of the lurking kind.All the best, Roland from Holland?

On Friday, August 5, 2016 11:13 PM, Roland van der Vliet <rollie_nl at yahoo.com> wrote:


Dear Tweeters,This is my progress reports somewhat later than I had hoped for: it has been a busy couple of weeks with lots of days out with the family (and a few on my own). My family lives in South Hill in quite a nice area from where hardly any bird observations have been entered on ebird. I thus decided to enter a few sightings by myself for the general area. I have had no problems finding my lifers Western Wood-Peewee, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Violet-green Swallow and Pacific-slope Flycatcher directly around the house. Also had a great daytime encounter with a Great Horned Owl.
I furthermore participated on the brilliant pelagic on 23 July that Bruce LaBar reported about: six new lifers and a few other sea creature lifers! Two other lifers were the Prairie Falcon that I watched at Paradise and the famous Tacoma Slaty-backed Gull that I chased after it being reported here. Due to problems with my family's cars, I have not been able to explore much on my own though, so I am content with my progress. Also, the car problems have been solved so I hope to visit Sunrise and even Wenas and adjacent sites coming week. In my final week I will visit the Olympic peninsula. I will keep you posted!All the best,Roland from Holland