Hi Annette and Tweeters,
My house overlooks part of the Snohomish Valley. I first saw Snow
Geese on Sunday and have had them every day since then. Yesterday
evening, as I put my bins on a small group of Cackling Geese flying
over the house only to notice a flock of about 80 Snow Geese flying
thousands of feet overhead. There were so high that they were
invisible to the naked eye. I suspect these were probably migrants
headed to parts of their range further south. At dusk I had several
groups totalling about 180 headed at a much lower altitude. I suspect
these had spent the day feeding nearby. Typically the Snohomish birds
have been known to commute from north of here (Stanwood/Skagit Valley,
presumably) so the direction of the dusk birds puzzled me, but I did
have similar numbers this morning so perhaps they do roost down here.

Large gull flocks (Mew, GW, and Ring-Billed are all I've been able to
confirm) and Double-Crested Cormorants arrived with the first major
rains of the year two weekends ago. I had Violet-Green Swallows as
late as this previous Sunday, by far my latest sighting in the county.

This morning I had a Great Egret flyby, my fourth yard sighting since
late August.

Josh Adams
Cathcart, WA