Tweeters

You may have heard about the Pine Bunting discovered and fortunately
photographed on October 15 in Victoria. It was not reported because it
was initially ID as a Lapland Longspur. Despite an extensive search
today (OCT 17) it was not refound. This is the second such scenario
this fall when a Common Ringed Plover was photographed and
misidentified until the photo was inspected 3 weeks after the fact.

Keith Taylor Victoria BC

On 10/17/18, Marv Breece <marvbreece at q.com> wrote:

> Yesterday morning, at Polson Rd & Dry Slough Rd on Fir Island, there was a

> flock of over 20 WESTERN MEADOWLARKS, feeding in a plowed field and singing

> like it was spring. A lone AMERICAN PIPIT was in the field as well. An

> AMERICAN KESTREL observed from nearby.

>

> Before high tide there was a large number of shorebirds at Hayton Preserve

> on Fir Island in Skagit County. The birds were distant and back lit as usual

> in the AM, but as the sun moved across the sky, there were moments when

> distant ID of birds was possible. Shorebirds were:

>

> Killdeer

> Black-bellied Plover

> Semipalmated Plover

> Greater Yellowlegs

> Long-billed Dowitcher

> Pectoral Sandpiper - 3

> Dunlin

> Red Knot - 3 in basic or juv plumage

> Peeps

>

> Three immature PEREGRINE FALCONS hunted the shorebirds. One peregrine was

> much smaller than the other two and could easily be mistaken for a Merlin.

> Over 100 SNOW GEESE were also at Hayton.

>

> On Wylie Road a MERLIN chased blackbirds.

>

> Passerine activity was nearly absent at the Game Range (Wylie Slough). I

> could hear BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES & PURPLE FINCHES. A NORTHERN SHRIKE made

> the brief stop worthwhile.

>

> In Snohomish County, south of Stanwood, the dark morph RED-TAILED HAWK was

> perched at the intersection with Boe Rd. This bird has been in that area for

> a few years. At the other end of Boe Road was my first HARLAN'S RED-TAILED

> HAWK of the season. This bird was a dark morph adult. As is typical with

> harlan's, close approach was not permitted. Also at the end of Boe Road was

> another NORTHERN SHRIKE.

>

> On 7th off of Pioneer, just west of Interstate 5, there was an AMERICAN

> KESTREL. I was hoping to see the light morph Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk that

> spent last winter there. No luck..... yet.

>

> --

> Marv Breece

> Tukwila, WA

> marvbreece at q.com

>

> "what are the costs to a society of an entire population conditioned to

> spend so much of their waking lives not in concentration and focus but

> rather in fragmentary awareness and subject to constant interruption?" - The

> Attention Merchants by Tim Wu

>

>