Sweet
Birds Cometh . . .
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| Falcated teal / Padilla Bay |
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| Falcated teal / Padilla Bay |
Falcated
teal - Rick Klawitter found a male Falcated teal on Padilla Bay, Skagit County,
early on the morning of Jan 16th. The teal is an ABA code 4 and this sighting
is [potentially] the 5th record for WA - and uniquely - the 3rd for Padilla
Bay. Rarely is this teal found outside of Alaska. Chasers? Many; and many have
seen and ticked it. As of dusk yesterday [1.17] the bird was still in the area.
Where? It was first found at Bay View State Park, moved south and was relocated
late afternoon and yesterday at the N end of the Padilla Bay Shore Trail off
Bayview Edison road and was still present at dusk [use the parking lot at trail
and look for other Birder's with scopes pointed toward the bay]. CC does have a
bit of recognition with this teal claiming one of the five WA records:
Dungeness Bay, 7.13.1993.
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| Slaty backed gull / Village Creek, Neah Bay |
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| Slaty backed gull / Village Creek, Neah Bay |
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| Tufted duck / Neah Bay |
Tufted duck - Same male that's been on the bay since
early December? Probably. Still giving good looks and amassing more eBird
checklist ticks! Bill Tweit must have been sitting on top of the duck when he
took this photo. Neah Bay.
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| Harris's sparrow / Neah Bay |
Snow goose - A juvy has attached itself to the x2 adults
that have been hanging at Village creek, NB, for weeks now. As good a place as
any to spend the winter.
Palm warbler - There's still at least x1, maybe x2 at 3
Crabs. Many have seen it. Many photos. And another out at Neah Bay
[1.12].
Willet - Still out there on the flats as seen from
Dungeness Landing and 3 Crabs. As long as the bird's been here and as familiar
as we are with it, it needs a name. So, foregoing any gender bias, several of
us here have started calling it Harmony! Time for someone to see it again, file
an eBird checklist and note it's name into the ssp's comments section. Would be
only the right thing to do, eh? Start a new trend in eBird checklisting!
Bohemian waxwing - And yes, they're still around, too.
Numbers have dropped significantly. High count these past days was in the Jamestown
area, x24.
Some other babbling . . .
• The OPAS Elwha Gull outing [1.14] netted six species of
gull: Thayer's [68], Glaucous winged [x60], California [x1], Mew [x190], Herring
[8], and 'Olympic' [x135]. The roost horded fewer gulls then
were expected; and fewer species.
• There are at least x6 Orange crowned warblers in
Dungeness at present.
• What's not been seen in the area lately: California
scrub jay [1.04], Emperor goose [1.08], and Snow bunting [1.08].
• Most Birders do eBird in one form or another:
checklisting, hot spots, local patches, look-seeing with the occasional,
"No way!" Here's a quick one-click entry to the Clallam County 2017
eBird tally of species [here].<http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?src=changeDate&getLocations=counties&counties=US-WA-009&parentState=US-WA&reportType=location&monthRadio=on&bMonth=01&eMonth=12&bYear=2017&eYear=2017&continue.x=52&continue.y=9&continue=Continue
>.
Lastly . . .
House sparo - We all have 'em. John tucked this photo
into his eBird checklist from the 16th at NB. The ssp is a scourge, a disaster
to swalo nest boxes, a plague at feeders, so on and so forth. BUT it really is
a cool bird when you take the time to watch it's socio-behavioural intra-actions
within a flock and interactions with other species. Here's a tidbit: When these
gray-feathered rats gather at a feeder or in shrubs and there's a bunch of them
and then they all at once get into a confab of calls, twitters, and birdy-noise
going all over the place - that confab is termed a Flibbish! A good scientific word!
That's all
Good feathering!
