[Tweeters] a numerically curious birding walk

[Hans-Joachim Feddern]

That should have made your ebird report easier Gary!

Hans

On Wed, Jan 26, 2022 at 6:31 PM Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson at comcast.net>
wrote:


> Thanks for sharing that, Gary.

>

> Dennis Paulson

> Seattle

>

> On Jan 26, 2022, at 6:24 PM, Gary Bletsch <garybletsch at protonmail.com>

> wrote:

>

> Dear Tweeters,

>

> This afternoon I took a walk at Northern State Recreation area near

> Sedro-Woolley, and a quirky thing happened along the way.

>

> The first bird I saw was a Great Blue Heron. Then I saw a single

> Black-capped Chickadee. I tried to pish out a few more chickadees, but the

> bird appeared to be alone.

>

> In one of the many excellent sparrow patches along my route, I pished up a

> little trio: one Fox Sparrow, one Spotted Towhee, and one Song Sparrow.

>

> A few minutes later, one European Starling flew over. Then a Red-tailed

> Hawk glided past.

>

> I pished my lungs out at some of the sparrow patches along the next leg of

> the route, but the only bird that I saw was a lone Purple Finch.

>

> At that point, I realized, "Huh, I've seen eight species, one individual

> of each species." I kept trying to find some more Song Sparrows or Spotted

> Towhees, but they were not in evidence.

>

> A few minutes later, a single Ruby-crowned Kinglet called. That made nine

> species, one individual each.

>

> I walked along a stretch that usually has all sorts of sparrows and other

> birds, trying to get something else to pop up, but there were no birds.

>

> Then a single Sharp-shinned Hawk flew over. That made ten species, exactly

> one individual each, after I'd been birding for about 45 minutes, covering

> over two miles, mostly on foot! I'm not sure that's ever happened to me

> before.

>

> Of course, just then, what species spoils it all? Five more Starlings

> chattering in the treetops!

>

> Immediately after that, all sorts of other little flocks of birds popped

> up here and there, as if to say, "We were just spoofing you!"

>

> Yours truly,

>

> Gary Bletsch

>

> Sent with ProtonMail <https://protonmail.com/> Secure Email.

>

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-- 
*Hans Feddern*
Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA
thefedderns at gmail.com
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