Tweets,
In the Stillaguamish Valley on Valde Road a couple hundred yards off Norman, I spotted a very pale gull with white primaries on a barn roof, standing alone about 10? away from a bunched-up flock of Glaucous-winged and Olympic Gulls. The team (David, Steve Dang, and Maureen Sunn) all checked out the Western Sibley to confirm the GLGU call, and the bird was a perfect match for the light juvenile?small dark eye, light coloring over all, pink legs, black-tipped bill, slightly larger than the neighboring gulls. It was about 100 yds. away and offered great scope views at about 3 p.m. on a cold, sunny afternoon.

Re. Varied Thrushes, we had about 15, mostly in the Sunday Lake area, but also at the cemeteries in Stanwood.

After the fog lifted, it was a great day out there. One problem for us was that the Sunday Lake Fish and Wildlife site was gated and locked. In 10 years of doing this CBC, always on 1/1, we have never encountered this. (Last year our swan count on the lake was over 800!) We don?t know if the dock was damaged or if someone just forgot to open the gate. Will contact Fish & Wildlife to check this out.

Happy New Year!
Penny Koyama, Bothell
plkoyama at comcast dot net