Hello, Tweeters! We had a wonderful day of birding today. We started at Eide Road, arriving a bit after 9 am. We were quite taken with the new dike and facilities, especially since we quickly saw Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Semi-palmated Sandpiper, Semi-palmated Plover, and a group of Short-billed Dowitchers. There were more American Pipits than we could shake a stick at, a delightful thing. At Wylie Slough we were treated to both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and a large group of Long-billed Dowitchers having a continuous conversation with each other. We felt like grown-up real Birders when we found and identified two Pectoral Sandpipers all by ourselves! As we were leaving, just as we remarked about how we think of Wylie Slough as the place to find Black Phoebe, I turned my head and there one was! On the log that juts out of the water north of the bridge into the parking area! Fir Island brought us the first Snow Geese of the season, a fly-over of Cackling Geese, and a fascinating but difficult-to-watch Peregrine Falcon on top of a still-struggling duck. And the singing! Golden-crowned Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows (Gambeli), and Marsh Wrens at Wylie; Song Sparrows and Marsh Wrens at Eide Road, and Brewer's Blackbirds along Fir Island Road. I didn't expect so much singing at this point. We are ever grateful to live in such an amazing place.

Cheers,
Whitney Neufeld-Kaiser
Seattle