They say even a blind squirrel finds a few nuts. Today I proved that true with one more gyr-ney to Fir Island. On three or four prior trips with various patient folk to look for the Gyr, we finally concluded that to actually see the bird, one had to be there concurrent with Marv Breece. This morning, failing at first to find the Gyr (or Marv) at Hayton in their usual haunts, I drove down Dry Slough road and found a distant gray raptor in a snag on the west side of the road. I convinced myself it was indeed the Gyr that's been seen on the island for the last few weeks but didn't have a real great look before it flew off. After a side trip down Paulson Rd. I decided to stop back at Hayton to see if perhaps the bird had headed back to its favorite lunch spot. As I arrived, the rain was getting pretty serious but seeing a couple of birders with scopes pointed in the same direction, I headed up onto the dike where, to my delight, I found Marv and friends, whose first words were: "Wanna see the Gyr?" Much better looks at this location but with the rain getting thicker, I didn't hang out too long. By the way, en route north, I had stopped at the Arlington (SR530) exit and searched through the large flocks of blackbirds and starlings there for nearly an hour without coming across the Rusty Blackbird that David Poortinga and others had there last week. Lighting wasn't too great while the birds were on the wires, though. Happy Birding! - Jon Houghton, Edmonds
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