It’s been an eventful week since returning from McAllen on Feb 13th. For Valentine’s Day Marian rode 2 hours south from Tacoma to the Woodland Bottoms area so I could try for the Siberian Accentor that had been seen there over the prior week or so. We woke earlier than the alarm, quasi jet-lag, and so got to the site just before 8 AM. There were already a few birders looking, and in the 2 or so hours before the Accentor made its appearance we saw 43 Great Egrets roosting in a tree far across the fields, a Black Phoebe perched over our heads, a Rough-legged Hawk perched low across a different field, and finally an east coast lister spotted the bird taking a bird-bath in a pool of water on a tarp or carpet outside a travel trailer beside the driveway of the homeowner. We all got nice looks, especially in the scope, but photos were distant and poor quality for me.

Following this we drove another half hour south to see the uncommon for WA Snowy Egret at the end of the dike road in Vancouver, along with lots of Sandhill Cranes.
The weekend was uneventful, but Monday and Tuesday Blair Bernsen came to Tacoma to bird with Bruce LaBar and me, and we added about 10 birds to Blair’s Pierce County life list, and generally had a good time together. YOu can read about day one of this time on his blog Blair Birding. Fortuitously Bill Tweit called me to bail on speaking to ABC on Tuesday night on Monday (an emergency business trip) and Blair overheard the call. He graciously volunteered to come back on Tuesday to give the talk he had planned to give in March.
Thursday was a busy day for me with Rotary, a doctor’s appt and driving to LAke Forest Park to see Marian and stay for a memorial today.
Today I took a birding walk and added Pine Siskin to my King County life list, a paltry #151 for KINGCO.
Tomorrow Ken, Bruce and I head east to the Okanogan area for our annual Freezathon. More on that to follow.
Good birding. Good day!