Today I led a trip of 12 TAS birders, mostly ABC grads, to see what we could find in Pierce County on a spectacularly beautiful sunny day. After finding very little except the Queen Eider on the sound over the last 3 days I decided we’d try for fresh water and land birds. We met at the Hwy 512-I5 park and ride we headed for the Mountain View Cemetery marsh and oak woodlands. The best birds of the early morning were raptors. Two Peregrine Falcons spotted right off by Richard Smethurst and later Red-tailed hawk, Cooper’s hawk were added. The second Cooper’s cooperatively sat at close range while we enjoyed great views.
Next were two stops at American Lake. First at he Camp Murray Boat Launch site and relocated the Canvasbacks that I had seen yesterday along with large numbers of Common Goldeneye mixed with other usual ducks and grebes. Over at Harry Todd Park there were no Boneparte’s gulls to sort thru, but we got nice comparison looks at Mew, California and Ring-billed gulls. Having most of the gulls be adults makes it easy. the gulls are adults.
Next we headed for Mount’s Road in hopes of a Swamp sparrow, but nothing happening on the sparrow front. A Greater Yellowlegs was the best find. We finally had some luck not including sunshine on the last stop of the morning. The sun armed everyone up including the sparrows, and we sorted through a nice flock of Golden-crowned sparrows and before long got great looks at a White-throated sparrow. Here is a photo by Kathleen Miller.

We also had great looks at Fox Sparrow, some even singing.
We quit about 1:20 PM. Great weather, an experienced group of birders, and finding the WTSP as my Pierce #212 for 2015 made it a great morning. On the way home I picked up a vegan chocolate cake for Kay’s party tonight, and now the Huskies are crushing the Beavers. A great day. Going to the movies tonight with Peter W to see Bridge of Spies while the wives get together.