From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 1 14:49:05 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Martha Jordan via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 1 14:49:35 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Mid-winter Swan Survey volunteers needed Message-ID: The Mid-winter swan survey, conducted each year by WDFW, is needing more volunteers on various count days. I am coordinating Snohomish and King counties, and part of Skagit County. As an observer you will need to know swan identification and age (adult vs juvenile, although not all swans will be able to be sorted to species if they are far off in the field. There is information on swan ID on the web as well as in various books. Resources given below. Contact Martha Jordan 206-713-3684 (text or phone) for more info or to sign-up or if you have questions. The official count dates are (assuming no snow or ice): Yes, these are weekdays. Whatcom County Mon Jan 12 Skagit County Tues Jan 13 Snohomish County-north Wed Jan 14 Snohomish County-south Thurs Jan 15 King County Fri Jan 16 Swan ID video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCPLAPy5JeQ Swan ID on web: https://nwswans.org/swan-identification/ You can print out a Swan ID brochure to take with you in the field. It is an enjoyable day out and you never know what you will see besides swans. Thanks. Martha Jordan -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 1 15:29:15 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (mark girling via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 1 15:29:31 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Birch Bay report References: <203843973.2320857.1764631755575.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <203843973.2320857.1764631755575@mail.yahoo.com> This weekend it's all been about Common Goldeneyes. Good numbers have moved into the Bay.White-winged Scoters still seem to be the largest Scoter numbers.?A lone Western Grebe was spotted by the Park boat launch.Harlequin ducks still in good numbers. Common Loons interspersed amongst the flocks.?Terrell Creek has a mix of Mallards and American Wigeon but a lone Eurasian Wigeon was amongst a small group in the Creek behind the Cabana Club Condos. Hooded Mergansers and Buffleheads could also be seen.Semiahmoo Spit was where the Surf Scoters could be found. And a mix of White-winged and Black Scoters scattered in the mix. Drayton Harbour side saw a Red-throated Loon.CBC will be here before long and there's alot to count. I'll keep my eyes peeled for something rare. markgirling@yahoo.com? Yahoo Mail: Search, Organize, Conquer -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 1 20:53:22 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 1 20:53:28 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Moses Lake Test CBC Message-ID: <1764651202.d9xhawks8w888kc8@webmail.sitestar.net> Folks, We are abandoning the effort to restart the Moses Lake area CBC. NAS requires a minimum of 10 participants and that isn't going to happen. This time of year people need to make plans and I don't want to keep this going on a hope that 5-6 people pop up at the last second. Maybe we'll try again next year Cheers Doug -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 1 22:39:29 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Eric Ellingson via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 1 22:39:53 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Action. Common Mergansers eating Kokanee salmon Message-ID: Tis the season for the Kokanee to be spawning up small streams from lakes just like their relatives, Sockeye salmon. Kokanee and sockeye salmon are the same species, but kokanee never make the journey to the ocean. They spend their entire lives in lakes, migrating to tributary streams to spawn in the fall. What does this have to do with birds? The Kokanee get eaten by Common Mergansers, Bald Eagles, Gulls, and their eggs get eaten by Bufflehead and American Dippers. As the Kokanee concentrate in shallow waters they can easily become prey to many others. Like other birds that catch & eat fish, the fish needs to go down the throat head first. So the real action begins after a merganser catches one & brings it to the surface. Gulls & other mergansers will chase it trying to steal the food out of their mouth. So if they grab it by the tail, they have to maneuver it around to get it in its mouth going head first before it is stolen or dropped. I've seen both happen. Here are a few shots of them in my online album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericellingson/ FYI: These birds are VERY skittish. The slightest disturbance and especially one's presence sends them rapidly flying off. It can take 30-60 minutes for them to return IF they feel the coast is clear. I hope you enjoy these. Many hours were spent sitting low on the ground out of sight waiting for them to return, then a couple hours to catch the action. More later. Cheers Eric Ellingson 360-820-6396 esellingson@gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 1 23:04:09 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Alan Roedell via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 1 23:04:22 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Action. Common Mergansers eating Kokanee salmon In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Wow! Great photos and videos! On Mon, Dec 1, 2025, 10:40?PM Eric Ellingson via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Tis the season for the Kokanee to be spawning up small streams from lakes > just like their relatives, Sockeye salmon. Kokanee and sockeye salmon are > the same species, but kokanee never make the journey to the ocean. They > spend their entire lives in lakes, migrating to tributary streams to spawn > in the fall. What does this have to do with birds? The Kokanee get eaten by > Common Mergansers, Bald Eagles, Gulls, and their eggs get eaten by > Bufflehead and American Dippers. As the Kokanee concentrate in shallow > waters they can easily become prey to many others. > > Like other birds that catch & eat fish, the fish needs to go down the > throat head first. So the real action begins after a merganser catches one > & brings it to the surface. Gulls & other mergansers will chase it trying > to steal the food out of their mouth. So if they grab it by the tail, they > have to maneuver it around to get it in its mouth going head first before > it is stolen or dropped. I've seen both happen. > > Here are a few shots of them in my online album: > https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericellingson/ > > FYI: These birds are VERY skittish. The slightest disturbance and > especially one's presence sends them rapidly flying off. It can take 30-60 > minutes for them to return IF they feel the coast is clear. I hope you > enjoy these. Many hours were spent sitting low on the ground out of sight > waiting for them to return, then a couple hours to catch the action. More > later. Cheers > > Eric Ellingson > > 360-820-6396 > esellingson@gmail.com > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 3 04:23:04 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dan Reiff via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 3 04:23:08 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] =?utf-8?q?FORBES=3A_She=E2=80=99s_Back!_Wisdom_The_Inc?= =?utf-8?q?redible_Laysan_Albatross_Has_Returned?= Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 3 11:34:47 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Diann MacRae via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 3 11:34:50 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] TUVU reports Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 4 10:20:55 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (byers345@comcast.net via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 4 10:21:26 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Off topic--trip to Chiapas, Mexico Message-ID: Hello Tweeters, ????A while back I noticed a birding tour to Chiapas, Mexico was being offered. I'd always wanted to visit Chiapas?it's an epicenter of marimba playing, for instance?so Bill and I signed up. We finally did the tour last month and were not disappointed. Aside from the beauty of the area, and the friendliness of everyone we encountered, Chiapas is also close to Guatemala. So Chiapas gets quite a few birds that also occur in Guatemala and farther south. But a number of these birds, particularly those that live at higher altitudes, don't make it farther north in Mexico. This is because of a geographical feature known as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a lowland that extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, preventing the higher altitude birds from moving north. ????I had a longish list of birds I was hoping to see in Chiapas. I didn't see them all and we didn't get photographs of all the ones we did see, but the opportunities for taking reasonable photos were fairly good. The link below takes you to the Flickr album with our Chiapas pictures. These are mostly birds with a sprinkling of other subjects. https://www.flickr.com/photos/29258421@N07/albums/72177720330701722 ????I hope you enjoy them. Charlotte Byers, Edmonds -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 4 11:20:08 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Shep Thorp via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 4 11:20:24 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Wednesday Walk at Billy Frank Jr Nisqually NWR for 12/3/2025 Message-ID: Dear Tweets, The Refuge delivers again another wonderful day of Autumn Birding as approximately 25 of us enjoyed a dry but cold and cloudy day with temperatures in the 40's degrees Fahrenheit. There was a high Low 7'7" Tide at 9:48am and a High 14'10" Tide at 2:52pm. Highlights included BARN OWL seen from the Twin Barns Overlook, RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER in a Pear Tree between the Technician Building and Maintenance Road just east of the Orchard; WILSON'S SNIPE roosting in the flooded field just west of the west side parking lot; NORTHERN SHRIKE perched above the BALD EAGLE nest next to the Twin Barns (currently being renovated by a bonded pair of Bald Eagle); BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER on the mudflats just north of the dike (Nisqually Estuary Trail) and west of Leschi Slough; continuing YELLOW-SHAFTED NORTHERN FLICKER where Leschi Slough runs parallel to the dike; two EURASIAN WIGEON among the 2,000-3,000 AMERICAN WIGEON visible on a high tide; PIGEON GUILLEMOT scoped from the closure gate at the end of the Nisqually Estuary Boardwalk Trail off Luhr Beach; two First of Year CANVASBACK Ducks seen swimming in flooded mudflats just north of the dike and west of Leschi Slough on the High Tide; and relocated WHITE-THROATED SPARROW on the south side of the dike, just east of the Leschi Slough Aqueduct under the dike, along the Bramble and young Riparian Stand between the slough and the dike. For the day, we observed 74 species. With FOY Canvasback, we now have seen 179 species this year. Please see our eBird Report pasted below with additional details and photos. Other fun sightings included Eastern Gray Squirrel, Columbian Black-tailed Deer, Harbor Seal, California Sea Lion in McAllister Creek, numerous Steller Sea Lions on the wreck off McNeil Street Trail/Dupont, and two Muskrats from the Visitor Center Pond Overlook in the afternoon. Map of Refuge: https://wos.org/documents/Birding%20Resources/NisquallyMap2014.pdf Note Leschi Slough is the largest slough on the Refuge and runs from the Twin Barns, under the dike via an aqueduct, and straight out the middle of the Refuge. The tidal area between Leschi Slough and the Nisqually River just north of the dike or Nisqually Estuary Trail is known as the 'Surge Plain', the tidal area between Leschi Slough and the McAllister Creek just north of the dike and on the inside of the Nisqually Estuary Boardwalk Trail is known as the Mudflats. There are three additional sloughs on the Refuge, the second largest is Shannon Slough which starts along the Entrance Road and empties into McAllister Creek at their confluence just adjacent to the McAllister Creek/Medicine Creek Viewing Platform. Just east of the Puget Sound Viewing Platform is a 'mud box' where the old 5 mile loop dike was originally breached, and east of that between the Platform and Leschi Slough is a smaller 'Madrone Slough'. Between Leschi Slough and the Mouth of the Nisqually River is another small slough known as 'Animal or Six Gill Slough' which proceeds south to the area of the old 'ring dike' when the 5 mile dike still existed. Many have speculated that the Nisqually River may breach the old ring dike area and run into the Animal or Six Gill Slough in the future. The Access Road or Maintenance Road runs from across the Orchard out to the Twin Barns. There are three flooded fields along the Access Road: 1) one between the Access Road and the Entrance Road, 2) another on the south side of the old McAllister Creek Access Road, and 3) a third between the old McAllister Creek Access Road and the Twin Barns. The old McAllister Creek Access Road travels between the closure gate along the Access Road and joins up with the new dike south of the Green Closure Gate at the end of the Nisqually Estuary Trail. Finally, I'll be away for the remainder of December. I'm headed to Tanzania for some African Birding, and should return at the beginning of January. Ken Brown, Pet Kilburn, Jim Pruske, Ed Beck, Rob Chrisler and an excellent group of regular attenders will continue the Wednesday Walk while I'm away. I hope everyone has a nice December and Happy Holidays. Be well, and happy birding. Shep -- Shep Thorp Browns Point 253-370-3742 Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR, Thurston, Washington, US Dec 3, 2025 7:42 AM - 4:22 PM Protocol: Traveling 2.886 mile(s) Checklist Comments: Wednesday Walk. Cloudy with temperatures in the 40?s degrees Fahrenheit. A high Low 7?7? Tide at 9:48am and a High 14?10? Tide at 2:52pm. Others seen Eastern Gray Squirrel, Columbian Black-tailed Deer, Harbor Seal, California Sea Lion, Steller Sea Lion, and Muskrat. 74 species (+8 other taxa) Cackling Goose (minima) 500 Cackling Goose (Taverner's) 10 Canada Goose (moffitti/maxima) 23 Trumpeter/Tundra Swan 2 Spotted by Anders flying over the Refuge and headed south. Northern Shoveler 60 Gadwall 25 Eurasian Wigeon 2 One spotted by Nathanael from the Observation Tower in the southwest corner of the flooded mudflats along Shannon Slough. The other spotted by Jon north of the dike just west of Leschi Slough. American Wigeon 2500 Mallard 150 Northern Pintail 500 Green-winged Teal (American) 2000 Canvasback 2 Great find by Tom, male and female, mingling with dabbling ducks north of dike and west of Leschi Slough. Ring-necked Duck 2 Visitor Center Pond. Surf Scoter 15 White-winged Scoter 10 Bufflehead 100 Common Goldeneye 30 Common Merganser 2 One spotted by Laurie in McAllister Creek, the other spotted by Jim in Nisqually River. Red-breasted Merganser 12 Mouth of McAllister Creek. Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 45 Anna's Hummingbird 1 Orchard. Virginia Rail 1 Heard only in afternoon south of dike in freshwater marsh. American Coot 10 Black-bellied Plover 1 Mudflats just north of dike west of Leschi Slough. Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher 4 Fly over with no vocalization. Most likely LBDO. Wilson's Snipe 1 Spotted by Kathleen in flooded field west of west side parking lot. Greater Yellowlegs 60 Counted in groups of 10 to 40. Large number flushed from freshwater marsh on high tide. Dunlin 300 Least Sandpiper 25 Pigeon Guillemot 1 Scoped from closure gate at end of Nisqually Boardwalk Trail. On Nisqually Reach beyond mouth of McAllister Creek foraging near RBME. Bonaparte's Gull 4 Foraging along the south side of Anderson Island. Short-billed Gull 50 Ring-billed Gull 25 Glaucous-winged Gull 6 Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 12 Western/Glaucous-winged Gull 20 Pied-billed Grebe 2 Visitor Center Pond. Horned Grebe 12 Common Loon 3 One seen from the McAllister Creek Viewing Platform. Brandt's Cormorant 13 Channel Marker at mouth of Nisqually River. Double-crested Cormorant 10 Great Blue Heron 35 Northern Harrier 3 Bald Eagle 11 Nest building in Cottonwoods above Twin Barns. Red-tailed Hawk (calurus/alascensis) 3 American Barn Owl 1 Spotted by Steve at 7:06am from the Twin Barns Observation Platform. Belted Kingfisher 4 Red-breasted Sapsucker 1 Orchard. Downy Woodpecker (Pacific) 1 Northern Flicker 2 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1 Continuing female bird. Red-nape, brown face, and yellow shafts. First reported by Laurie but seen by many along Leschi Slough were it runs parallel to the dike. Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 2 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted x Red-shafted) 1 Red nape and red malar. Male. Peregrine Falcon 1 Northern Shrike 1 Reported earlier in the week on the inner dike in the sanctuary by the bird survey crew. Seen flying along the access road south from the Twin Barns to the Cottonwoods west of the west side parking lot. American Crow 200 Common Raven 1 Heard along McAllister Creek Hill Black-capped Chickadee 15 Chestnut-backed Chickadee 3 Bushtit (Pacific) 10 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 5 Golden-crowned Kinglet 10 Brown Creeper 6 Pacific Wren (Pacific) 2 Marsh Wren 10 Bewick's Wren (spilurus Group) 4 European Starling 30 Varied Thrush 1 Orchard in an Apple Tree. American Robin 16 Purple Finch 1 Pine Siskin 2 American Goldfinch 4 Fox Sparrow (Sooty) 8 Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 2 Golden-crowned Sparrow 30 White-throated Sparrow 1 Spotted by Jim along the Nisqually Estuary Trail or dike just east and south of Aqueduct. Savannah Sparrow 1 Seen along the dike. Song Sparrow 22 Lincoln's Sparrow 1 Seen along the dike. Spotted Towhee (oregonus Group) 6 Red-winged Blackbird 60 Orange-crowned Warbler (lutescens) 1 View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S287229411 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 4 13:16:29 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Michael Hobbs via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 4 13:16:49 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Marymoor Park (Redmond, King Co.) 2025-12-04 Message-ID: Tweets - It was dark and wet today, with mizzle, drizzle, and rain. And except for Short-billed Gulls (~250), American Robins, and Dark-eyed Juncos, it wasn't very birdy at all. My fingers are still cold from the combination of temps in the low 40's and wet, wet, wet. Highlights: Greater White-fronted Goose - Eight out near the Model Airplane Field Common Goldeneye - Quick flyby, with three heading up the slough. First of Winter (FOW) Common Merganser - 5-6 drakes seen from the Lake Platform. We've had very few this fall California Gull - Amongst the hordes of Short-billed, we found 2-3 California, just our 17th December record for this species White-throated Sparrow - Two with a flock of juncos in the Dog Area Western Meadowlark - Remain active on the grass/gravel parking area in the NE part of the park We also had a COYOTE trot across the grass fields while we were still in the parking lot, and an AMERICAN BEAVER swimming in the slough. Misses today were numerous: American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser, Anna's Hummingbird, Killdeer, Wilson's Snipe, Cooper's Hawk, Northern Shrike, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Marsh Wren, Pine Siskin, and American Goldfinch. For the day, just 44 species. = Michael Hobbs = BirdMarymoor@gmail.com = www.marymoor.org/birding.htm From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 5 04:59:37 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jim Betz via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 5 04:59:45 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Great Pictures ... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: ? ... from both Eric and Charlotte!? Thanks for posting the links.? - Jim in Skagit From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 5 14:25:21 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Zora Monster via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 5 14:25:39 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Eurasian wigeon Message-ID: <657986A6-1A80-48DE-8887-A66011C5383E@mac.com> I found one, possibly 2, hanging with the American wigeons at Green Lake near the pool house. Zora Dermer Seattle Sent from my iPhone From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 6 09:24:31 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 6 09:24:36 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] birding and carbon Message-ID: <5BEB140D-B311-470A-B323-9FAFF49677A1@comcast.net> Here?s an interesting blog written by a friend of mine: https://chasingnature.substack.com/p/birdwatchings-carbon-problem-c3a Dennis Paulson Seattle -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 6 11:52:37 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Kevin Lucas via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 6 11:53:04 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] birding and carbon In-Reply-To: <5BEB140D-B311-470A-B323-9FAFF49677A1@comcast.net> References: <5BEB140D-B311-470A-B323-9FAFF49677A1@comcast.net> Message-ID: Thank you Dennis. That is a good read. He would be great to have as a friend. https://www.aba.org/aba-code-of-birding-ethics/ Sincerely, Kevin Lucas Yakima County, WA *Qui tacet consentire videtur* *I prefer truth and decency to lies, hate mongering, cruelty, genocide, self-dealing, and theft of billions of dollars by an oligarchy of addled-brained selfish felons and billionaires.* On Sat, Dec 6, 2025 at 9:25?AM Dennis Paulson via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Here?s an interesting blog written by a friend of mine: > > https://chasingnature.substack.com/p/birdwatchings-carbon-problem-c3a > > Dennis Paulson > Seattle > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 6 13:17:30 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Diane Yorgason-Quinn via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 6 13:17:34 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] birding and carbon In-Reply-To: <5BEB140D-B311-470A-B323-9FAFF49677A1@comcast.net> References: <5BEB140D-B311-470A-B323-9FAFF49677A1@comcast.net> Message-ID: I agree. Food for thought, and also a reason to not feel so guilty about SOME of our behaviors, just concentrate on the stuff a person can actually do. Diane Yorgason-Quinn Gig Harbor, WA Avosetta@hotmail.com ________________________________ From: Tweeters on behalf of Dennis Paulson via Tweeters Sent: Saturday, December 6, 2025 9:24 AM To: TWEETERS tweeters Subject: [Tweeters] birding and carbon Here?s an interesting blog written by a friend of mine: https://chasingnature.substack.com/p/birdwatchings-carbon-problem-c3a Dennis Paulson Seattle -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 6 13:54:24 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Tom Benedict via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 6 13:54:39 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] birding and carbon In-Reply-To: <5BEB140D-B311-470A-B323-9FAFF49677A1@comcast.net> References: <5BEB140D-B311-470A-B323-9FAFF49677A1@comcast.net> Message-ID: <78A14B69-11D3-42B6-8ABE-6990C6D3F24D@comcast.net> Indeed, I often reflect on the impact we have while ?loving nature?. It?s a bit of a dilemma for me. Carbon offsets are a temporary solution, but ultimately we need to reduce our footprint. Yeah, hybrids and EVs help, a bit. Maybe a bit less chase and a lot more local will help more? What about ways to improve virtual birding to meet some of the need for discovery? Tom Benedict Seahurst, WA > On Dec 6, 2025, at 09:24, Dennis Paulson via Tweeters wrote: > > Here?s an interesting blog written by a friend of mine: > > https://chasingnature.substack.com/p/birdwatchings-carbon-problem-c3a > > Dennis Paulson > Seattle > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 6 20:49:01 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (J Christian Kessler via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 6 20:55:06 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] birding and carbon In-Reply-To: <5BEB140D-B311-470A-B323-9FAFF49677A1@comcast.net> References: <5BEB140D-B311-470A-B323-9FAFF49677A1@comcast.net> Message-ID: a very thoughtful piece touching many issues. Chris Kessler On Sat, Dec 6, 2025 at 9:25?AM Dennis Paulson via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Here?s an interesting blog written by a friend of mine: > > https://chasingnature.substack.com/p/birdwatchings-carbon-problem-c3a > > Dennis Paulson > Seattle > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -- ?Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass ? it?s about learning how to dance in the rain.? Deborah Tuck -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 7 12:06:24 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Elaine Chuang via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 7 12:06:28 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] RE-POST TUVU report References: Message-ID: <355F0E53-23E9-4194-9C39-F84C44DE0C9F@uw.edu> This is a re-post of Diann MacRae's December 3 message, on Turkey Vultures and their recent movements. Thank you, Diann. Sent: Wednesday, December 3, 2025 11:34 AM To: tweeters t Subject: [Tweeters] TUVU reports Hi, Tweets Just a note to say no vulture report for November (not much flying around, vulturewise) but I'll do an end-of-year report later and then probably in Jan/Feb a winter report. A few winter over and there are always a few heading north in late January. Plus, so far we haven't had much in the way of weather, so who knows. Have a great holiday season and thanks for all your reports through the years. Cheers, Diann Diann MacRae Olympic Vulture Study 22622 - 53rd Avenue S.E. Bothell, WA 98021 tvulture@gmx.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 7 12:14:25 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (BRAD Liljequist via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 7 12:14:29 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Birding and carbon - a resource Message-ID: Hi all, I hope you don't mind me reposting the site I created to help folks reduce their climate harm: www.climateresponsible.org. I have been somewhat amazed by its lack of use - it is really hard to get the word out and capture eyeballs. Unfortunately all the search algorithms default to large orgs, or pay to play...the internet ain't the same as it used to be. So - appreciate you sharing it with you circles. Brad Liljequist Seattle, WA, US -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 7 13:49:50 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Nancy Morrison via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 7 13:50:07 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Birding and carbon Message-ID: When the Red-flanked Bluetail showed up at my house, I was introduced to the world of listers. I was freaked out at the number of people who flew across the country, or drove for two days to get to my backyard. There was one gentleman, however, who took all public transportation from the Kitsap Peninsula. It was getting close to sunset, and I offered to drive him to the ferry in my EV, but he declined. He was determined to do the entire trip on public transit. Can you just imagine if everyone did that, how much better the world would be?? Nancy Morrison -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 7 14:04:50 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Robert O'Brien via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 7 14:05:05 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Birding and carbon In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Carried to the extreme limits of the public transportation approach is: "Birder bicycle big year" refers to Dorian Anderson's groundbreaking 2014 'Biking for Birds' project, where he completed the first North American Big Year (seeing the most bird species in a year) entirely by bicycle, without fossil fuels, covering 18,000 miles. His trip was several years ago and the book had to wait to more recently to appear. I just read it and am glad that I did. *Birding Under the Influence*. There is somewhat more coverage of how he recovered from a variety of personal bad habits/addictions, and I would have liked to have seen more birding details as well. But there are quite a few as it is. *Well worth the read.* And with some time spent going through Washington. But this is unlikely to become a regular thing. Especially since he saw ~620 species. in the 48 states. AND, no pelagics. They use fossil fuels. I doubt anyone would try to beat this. But State, County, City, etc. are available for a much greater audience. And then there's walking. And then there's the Big Sit which doesn't even involve walking, other than to the sit spot. Bob OBrien Portland On Sun, Dec 7, 2025 at 1:50?PM Nancy Morrison via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > When the Red-flanked Bluetail showed up at my house, I was introduced to > the world of listers. I was freaked out at the number of people who flew > across the country, or drove for two days to get to my backyard. There was > one gentleman, however, who took all public transportation from the Kitsap > Peninsula. It was getting close to sunset, and I offered to drive him to > the ferry in my EV, but he declined. He was determined to do the entire > trip on public transit. Can you just imagine if everyone did that, how much > better the world would be?? > > Nancy Morrison > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 7 15:19:30 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Scott Ramos via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 7 15:20:11 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Birding and carbon In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I met Dorian Anderson at Oyhut Wildlife area at Ocean Shores during his big year and was impressed with his dedication to such a grand ambition, but also at his birding skill. But as Bob points out, this is unlikely to become a regular endeavour. On the other hand, local big days or even simple birding trips can be done mostly carbon-free with not that much effort. Several years ago, I participated in what was labeled a Big Day Birding by Bus. It was fun and I decided to continue the concept, leading Seattle Audubon Birding Big Day by Bus trips for several years. The plan was to meet at either a central location to begin the bus trips, or at least meet at the first birding hotspot to join the group. From then on, we would bird at least 3 prime locations and take public transport to get to each of them. The route usually started at Discovery Park, where at least 4-5 hours were spent on a full park traverse, ending the morning by crossing the Ballard Locks on foot. Some years, we allowed enough time for a burger break at the Red Mill in Ballard. Next was a bus trip to Husky Stadium where we continued on foot along the Montlake cut to the boat rental dock and on to the 'Fill' and Yesler Swamp, a route of at least a couple more hours. A walk up to Sand Point Way and then another bus to Magnuson where we used what time was left to mop up species missed elsewhere. Logistics were sometimes a challenge but we once had a group of 12 people and a best year of 109 species. It can be done. And before that, when backpacking was still more of a focus than birding, I had done some sector hikes on the PCT and worried about my carbon footprint because I needed rides to and from the starting and ending trailheads. With just a little research, I devised a carbon-free trip to hike sector L of the PCT from Stehekin to Manning Park: Metro bus from home to Amtrak where Mark Crawford joined me, train to Wenatchee, walk to a hotel, then in the morning, walk to a county bus stop for transit to the Lady of the Lake terminal, a boat trip to Stehekin, a local school bus to the PCT trailhead, then 8 days of backpacking, ending in Manning Park, Canada, with a walk to a hotel (to spend some carbon on clothes washing and drying--wet gear was hung in our room--as well as on nice burgers!), then in the morning flag a Greyhound to Vancouver, walk to the train station, Amtrak to Seattle and a metro bus to home. Again, it can be done. Scott Ramos Seattle P.S. For those who might be interested in the carbon free backpack trip and itinerary: https://naturenw.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/multi-modal-backpacking/ https://naturenw.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/stehekin-to-manning-park/ On Sun, Dec 7, 2025 at 2:05?PM Robert O'Brien via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Carried to the extreme limits of the public transportation approach is: > "Birder bicycle big year" refers to Dorian Anderson's groundbreaking 2014 > 'Biking for Birds' project, where he completed the first North American > Big Year (seeing the most bird species in a year) entirely by bicycle, > without fossil fuels, covering 18,000 miles. > His trip was several years ago and the book had to wait to more recently > to appear. I just read it and am glad that I did. *Birding Under the > Influence*. There is somewhat more coverage of how he recovered from a > variety of personal bad habits/addictions, and I would have liked to have > seen more birding details as well. But there are quite a few as it is. *Well > worth the read.* And with some time spent going through Washington. But > this is unlikely to become a regular thing. Especially since he saw ~620 > species. in the 48 states. AND, no pelagics. They use fossil fuels. I > doubt anyone would try to beat this. But State, County, City, etc. are > available for a much greater audience. And then there's walking. And then > there's the Big Sit which doesn't even involve walking, other than to the > sit spot. > Bob OBrien Portland > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 7 15:39:04 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Ann Kramer via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 7 15:39:45 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Birding and carbon - a resource In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thank you Brad. This is a very extensive website. If we can even do one thing on the options, we are helping our carbon footprint. I am on the board of directors at Skagit Audubon. If I have your permission, I would like to run this by the board to see if we can put this link on our website and in our newsletter. Packaged food is a hard one for me. We are vegetarian and I grow a lot of our summer food, but it's difficult to get around packaging, which is dreadfully plastice. I am over the top flabbergasted by big plastic boxes used to package lettuce!!! Unbelievable. Ann On Sun, Dec 7, 2025 at 12:14?PM BRAD Liljequist via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Hi all, > > I hope you don't mind me reposting the site I created to help folks reduce > their climate harm: www.climateresponsible.org. > > I have been somewhat amazed by its lack of use - it is really hard to get > the word out and capture eyeballs. Unfortunately all the search algorithms > default to large orgs, or pay to play...the internet ain't the same as it > used to be. So - appreciate you sharing it with you circles. > > Brad Liljequist > Seattle, WA, US > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 7 17:01:47 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Carolyn Heberlein via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 7 17:01:57 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Green Lake Wigeons Message-ID: There are a lot of wigeons at Green Lake. Because of their Buffy foreheads, I thought they were mostly Eurasians. On December 6, 2025, at 5:00 PM, via Tweeters wrote: Send Tweeters mailing list submissions to tweeters@u.washington.edu To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to tweeters-request@mailman11.u.washington.edu You can reach the person managing the list at tweeters-owner@mailman11.u.washington.edu When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Tweeters digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Eurasian wigeon (Zora Monster via Tweeters) 2. birding and carbon (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) 3. Re: birding and carbon (Kevin Lucas via Tweeters) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2025 14:25:21 -0800 From: Zora Monster via Tweeters To: tweeters Subject: [Tweeters] Eurasian wigeon Message-ID: <657986A6-1A80-48DE-8887-A66011C5383E@mac.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii I found one, possibly 2, hanging with the American wigeons at Green Lake near the pool house. Zora Dermer Seattle Sent from my iPhone ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2025 09:24:31 -0800 From: Dennis Paulson via Tweeters To: TWEETERS tweeters Subject: [Tweeters] birding and carbon Message-ID: <5BEB140D-B311-470A-B323-9FAFF49677A1@comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Here?s an interesting blog written by a friend of mine: https://chasingnature.substack.com/p/birdwatchings-carbon-problem-c3a Dennis Paulson Seattle -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2025 11:52:37 -0800 From: Kevin Lucas via Tweeters To: Dennis Paulson Cc: TWEETERS tweeters Subject: Re: [Tweeters] birding and carbon Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Thank you Dennis. That is a good read. He would be great to have as a friend. https://www.aba.org/aba-code-of-birding-ethics/ Sincerely, Kevin Lucas Yakima County, WA *Qui tacet consentire videtur* *I prefer truth and decency to lies, hate mongering, cruelty, genocide, self-dealing, and theft of billions of dollars by an oligarchy of addled-brained selfish felons and billionaires.* On Sat, Dec 6, 2025 at 9:25?AM Dennis Paulson via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Here?s an interesting blog written by a friend of mine: > > https://chasingnature.substack.com/p/birdwatchings-carbon-problem-c3a > > Dennis Paulson > Seattle > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: ------------------------------ Subject: Digest Footer _______________________________________________ Tweeters mailing list Tweeters@mailman11.u.washington.edu http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters ------------------------------ End of Tweeters Digest, Vol 256, Issue 6 **************************************** From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 7 17:14:06 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (BRAD Liljequist via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 7 17:14:11 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Birding and carbon - a resource In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ann, that's great. I would love it if there was a link on the SAS website. I have enjoyed your programs! I'm with you on packaging! Endless. ________________________________ From: Ann Kramer Sent: Sunday, December 7, 2025 3:39 PM To: BRAD Liljequist Cc: via Tweeters Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Birding and carbon - a resource Thank you Brad. This is a very extensive website. If we can even do one thing on the options, we are helping our carbon footprint. I am on the board of directors at Skagit Audubon. If I have your permission, I would like to run this by the board to see if we can put this link on our website and in our newsletter. Packaged food is a hard one for me. We are vegetarian and I grow a lot of our summer food, but it's difficult to get around packaging, which is dreadfully plastice. I am over the top flabbergasted by big plastic boxes used to package lettuce!!! Unbelievable. Ann On Sun, Dec 7, 2025 at 12:14?PM BRAD Liljequist via Tweeters > wrote: Hi all, I hope you don't mind me reposting the site I created to help folks reduce their climate harm: www.climateresponsible.org. I have been somewhat amazed by its lack of use - it is really hard to get the word out and capture eyeballs. Unfortunately all the search algorithms default to large orgs, or pay to play...the internet ain't the same as it used to be. So - appreciate you sharing it with you circles. Brad Liljequist Seattle, WA, US _______________________________________________ Tweeters mailing list Tweeters@u.washington.edu http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 8 02:34:05 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Carolyn Heberlein via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 8 02:34:20 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Green Lake Wigeons Message-ID: There are a lot of wigeons at Green Lake. Because of their Buffy foreheads, I thought they were mostly Eurasians. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 8 08:50:28 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Kathleen Snyder via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 8 08:50:42 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Panama: 2006, 2012, 2025 - Thursday December 11th 7 pm Olympia or via Zoom Message-ID: Jerry Broadus and Clarice Clark will present their impressions and their photographs of three birding trips to Panama. This country has long been a favorite tropical birding area. The country is easy to access and explore even if you don?t speak much Spanish; there are lots of good accommodations and guides; and the varied terrain has a fascinating history. The presentation will be live at Temple Beth Hatfiloh, 201 8th Ave SE Olympia with social time at 6:30 pm. You can also watch from home via Zoom. Registration is required, below. This is a free program from South Sound Bird Alliance (formerly Black Hills Audubon). https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/rSnWmWzJTGu0jX5QuMWNlA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 9 00:21:17 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Hans-Joachim Feddern via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 9 00:21:35 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Green Lake Wigeons In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I scan our American Wigeon flock here at Lake Lorene in Twin Lakes, Federal Way daily for a Eurasian with a red head. The body on male Eurasian Wigeons is gray, but that is not always easy to pick out, especially when they are feeding on the lawn. Currently we have a hybrid which is mainly Eurasian but still has green on the red head. Good Birding ! Hans On Mon, Dec 8, 2025 at 2:34?AM Carolyn Heberlein via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > There are a lot of wigeons at Green Lake. Because of their Buffy > foreheads, I thought they were mostly Eurasians. > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -- *Hans Feddern* Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA thefedderns@gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 9 05:59:51 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Steve Hampton via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 9 06:00:08 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Green Lake Wigeons In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Note that male Eurasian Wigeons often show some green around the eye. I think this information has been slow in percolating to North American birders, but Brits are familiar with it. The rest of the head will still be copper (with the buttery forehead), the breast will be brown, but the body and flanks will be silver (not an American feature), with a strong demarcation between the brown breast and silver flanks. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/292992921 A hybrid adult male should show extensive green by the eye, AND also dark flecking on the face and a blend of silver and brown on the breast, flanks, and body, with little demarcation. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/646270453 This bird, for example, is labeled a hybrid, but seems to be a pure Eurasian. The body shows no signs of hybridism. https://birdseye.photo/photos/review/202/eurasian_x_american_wigeon_hybrid/ Note that Eur Wigeon in eclipse (in early fall) has a streaky face and patchy silver and brown on the body - https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/247419881 We had a bird like this in Port Townsend last fall that moled into a perfect Eurasian. On Tue, Dec 9, 2025 at 12:21?AM Hans-Joachim Feddern via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > I scan our American Wigeon flock here at Lake Lorene in Twin Lakes, > Federal Way daily for a Eurasian with a red head. The body on male Eurasian > Wigeons is gray, but that is not always easy to pick out, especially when > they are feeding on the lawn. Currently we have a hybrid which is mainly > Eurasian but still has green on the red head. > > Good Birding ! > > Hans > > On Mon, Dec 8, 2025 at 2:34?AM Carolyn Heberlein via Tweeters < > tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > >> There are a lot of wigeons at Green Lake. Because of their Buffy >> foreheads, I thought they were mostly Eurasians. >> _______________________________________________ >> Tweeters mailing list >> Tweeters@u.washington.edu >> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters >> > > > -- > *Hans Feddern* > Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA > thefedderns@gmail.com > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -- ?Steve Hampton? Port Townsend, WA (qat?y) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 9 07:38:18 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Samara Hoag via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 9 07:38:33 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Seeking binoc donation Message-ID: Hello Tweets I am going to Colombia in January. I hope to take 1-3 new or slightly used binocs as donations for local guides. If you have any high quality, good condition binocs I would be happy to take them. I live in Seattle and can pick them up. Sami Hoag -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 9 11:21:53 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jane Hadley via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 9 11:22:06 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] New fieldtrips, CBCs, birding tools, and news articles on wos.org Message-ID: Dear Tweetsters - I wanted to alert you to some updates to the WOS website that might interest you: 1. Upcoming Field Trips -- We've got four field trips coming up in January and February. (One is filled but you can get on the waiting list.) And one scheduled for early June. https://wos.org/field-trips/ 2. Christmas Bird Counts -- Want to get out birding this month? Choose among dozens of bird counts around the state, including some new ones to the list. https://wos.org/cbc/ 3. Birding Resources -- Brad Liljequist's website educating people on how and why to reduce their climate harm has been added to the Birding Resources webpage, which features links to a variety of helpful birdwatching tools for Washington birders. https://wos.org/birding-resources/ 4. Latest WOS newsletter. The Fall WOSNews is now published under new editor Alexander Sowers with a flock of interesting articles. https://wos.org/publications/newsletters/current/ Jane Hadley Seattle, Washington WOS webmaster -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 9 14:26:01 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Larry Schwitters via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 9 14:26:25 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] New species of tinamous discovered Message-ID: <91B4606D-479E-44AD-A948-954AACE4C476@me.com> Article in the Seattle Times and a lot of other papers about another bird to add to your life list. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-remarkably-tinamou-species-amazon-mountains.html It?s a chicken sized flightless bird that can fly but would rather not. 2106???? are hanging out in an elevation restricted range of a far western area of the Amazon basin. Closest relative is the Ostrich (maybe). Easy to catch. Good to eat. Closest airport is probably Lima. See you there. I?ll be bicycling down. Maybe we can put you on the handlebars. Larry Schwitters Issaquah -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 10 13:10:57 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jay via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 10 13:11:11 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] New species of tinamous discovered Message-ID: Here is a link to two pictures of the Little tinamou I took in Colombia last year. They were pretty elusive so we sat for a while until they came close to our blind. I know these are not the same ones to which the article refers. There are quite a few Tinamou species. https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCDk2E Jay Bellingham, WA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 10 13:31:47 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Alan Roedell via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 10 13:32:02 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] New species of tinamous discovered In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Beautiful, thanks for sharing. On Wed, Dec 10, 2025, 1:16?PM Jay via Tweeters wrote: > Here is a link to two pictures of the Little tinamou I took in Colombia > last year. They were pretty elusive so we sat for a while until they came > close to our blind. I know these are not the same ones to which the > article refers. There are quite a few Tinamou species. > > https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCDk2E > > Jay > Bellingham, WA > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 10 13:34:35 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jeff Borsecnik via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 10 13:34:41 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Merlin app - mic Message-ID: I'd like to get a small directional microphone to use with an Android phone and the Merlin app to improve call IDs as a gift for somebody. I want it to be pretty compact so it's convenient. Has anybody use a mic with a phone like this, and if so which model and does it help much? Thx! Get Outlook for Android -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 10 14:02:08 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dan Reiff via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 10 14:02:33 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] New species of tinamous discovered In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <8E6B3578-3494-40D3-B0F9-5C0E0441671E@gmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 10 14:47:09 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jay via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 10 14:47:25 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] New species of tinamous discovered In-Reply-To: <8E6B3578-3494-40D3-B0F9-5C0E0441671E@gmail.com> References: <8E6B3578-3494-40D3-B0F9-5C0E0441671E@gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi Dan - If you click on the image in Flickr you can see the metadata including camera, lens, exposure etc. For these I was using a Nikon z7ii with a 500mm F mount lens and an adapter for the F to Z mount (FTZii). It was very dark and I was hand-holding so I set the exposure at 1/125sec, f/5.6 which was the biggest aperture available. The ISO still was 25600 so there was a lot of noise which I removed with Topaz Photo. The rest of the processing was done in Lightroom. If I could go again, I would probably use a tripod or monopod and shoot at a slower speed to reduce the ISO. In any case, I was pretty happy with the noise reduction and sharpness for these images. Jay On Wed, Dec 10, 2025 at 2:02?PM Dan Reiff wrote: > Great photos, Jay! > What camera and lens were you using? > Thanks, > Dan Reiff > Sent from my iPhone > > On Dec 10, 2025, at 1:32?PM, Alan Roedell via Tweeters < > tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > > ? > Beautiful, thanks for sharing. > > On Wed, Dec 10, 2025, 1:16?PM Jay via Tweeters > wrote: > >> Here is a link to two pictures of the Little tinamou I took in Colombia >> last year. They were pretty elusive so we sat for a while until they came >> close to our blind. I know these are not the same ones to which the >> article refers. There are quite a few Tinamou species. >> >> https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCDk2E >> >> Jay >> Bellingham, WA >> _______________________________________________ >> Tweeters mailing list >> Tweeters@u.washington.edu >> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters >> > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 11 17:34:40 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Kenneth Brown via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 11 17:34:45 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Fwd: Nisqually Wednesday in December. In-Reply-To: <1138445326.35883.1765502253373@connect.xfinity.com> References: <1138445326.35883.1765502253373@connect.xfinity.com> Message-ID: <548008514.36384.1765503280173@connect.xfinity.com> Atmospheric River or Pineapple Express? As predicted, it was steadily raining and windy as the day began. The birds were few and the birders even fewer. There were only 6 or 7 of us assembled on the Visitor?s Center deck when Glynnis came out of the office to say goodbye. Glynnis Nakai, the Refuge Manager for the last 12-13 years, (only the 4th Manager in the 51-year history of the refuge I believe.) is retiring at the end of the week. Her beneficial management, like her consistently positive presence, cannot be overstated or adequately described in this report. She will be missed for a long time to come. A pair of Pied-billed Grebes were in the Visitor?s Center pond, and and Tim heard a Belted Kingfisher. A couple late arrivals swelled our ranks to 9 by the time we started on the usual route, all decked out in rain gear. Gray sky, mist, and steady light rain seemed at first to keep the birds quiet and out of sight. Some of the paths in the play area were flooded. In the orchard, a few crows flew westerly overhead. From the entrance road, the forbidden pond to the west was full of water but unusually empty of waterfowl. To the east a couple American Robins and a few Golden-crowned Sparrows caught our attention and a Northern Flicker sat solo in the top of a barren Pear tree. The flooded field south of the bend in the service road held about 25 Canada Geese, a few Mallards, Green-winged Teal, and American Wigeon. A dark Red-tailed Hawk perched in the large Willow in the middle of the flooded fields west of the service road, the ponds were filled with Northern Shovelers, Mallards, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, and a few American Coots. In the brush along the east side of the road were Golden-Crowned and Song Sparrows and a Dark-eyed Junco. On the west side of the loop trail, the pond yielded only another Pied-billed Grebe and a Bufflehead female. The brush held Fox Sparrow, a few Golden-crowned Sparrows, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Black-capped Chickadees, Bewick?s Wren, and a Downy Woodpecker. Out on the dike, the rain had slackened. The tide was high and the entire surge plain covered in greenish milky water made opaque by runoff from McAllister Creek and the Nisqually River. In the Willow thicket along the south side of the dike, were Golden-crowned Sparrows, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a couple American Goldfinch, a pair of Purple Finch, and a gray-headed Orange-crowned Warbler found by Heather. Close in, on the north side of the dike were a couple Northern Flickers, including a Yellow-shafted individual. Further out on the flooded surge plain were lots of ducks, Green-winged Teal, Pintail, Shovelers, Gadwall, Mallards, and Wigeon, including one Eurasian Wigeon spotted by Jon. A Peregrine Falcon perched in a snag near the Nisqually River, and we watched a Merlin hunting unsuccessfully for small birds. Once we were out of the shelter of the Willows, the wind really picked up causing raingear to flap in the wind and tugging at tripods. The wind was ?warm?, an unseasonable 58?F. Jon found a single Western Meadowlark south of the dike. A large flock of Red-winged Blackbirds moved around, possibly wary of the Falcons. A single Dunlin walked on the gravel dike surface perhaps wary of the falcons or just sheltering near the vegetation on the side to get out of the wind. When we reached the start of the McAllister Creek boardwalk, we flushed an American Bittern from the base of the dike that then disappeared into the Canary grass/ Cattail marsh, the bird?s plumage a close match for the dying reeds. Walking out the boardwalk, there was no mud to be seen, only a broad plain of greenish cloudy water surrounding us. The wind was kicking up some small whitecaps and the rain had stopped. There were a few Surf Scoters, and Common Goldeneye in the creek, some Greater Yellowlegs on the far shore. A less than usual number of Gulls were around, Short-billed, and Ring-billed being most common. Without islands, the Harbor Seals couldn?t congregate, but some heads appeared above the water. Out at the gated end, visibility was still limited. We couldn?t make out the Channel markers or most of the piling but did find a few Double-crested Cormorants, Goldeneye and a single, Red-breasted Merganser. To the east a flock of Dunlin swooped, occasionally settling down on narrow exposed grass humps only to pick up shortly after. When we returned to the beginning of the boardwalk, we again flushed a Bittern that again disappeared. The same bird? We couldn?t tell. We found a White-crowned Sparrow, and a White-throated Sparrow along the north side of dike. At the Nisqually River Overlook, the river was running very high, the water a latte-brown, not quite dark enough for chocolate. But there were chunks. We watched several logs and stumps drift swiftly down river some colliding at the bend and rolling in the current. Three Common Mergansers, 2 males and a female, flew upriver, perhaps searching for a calmer place to land. Walking south on the east side of the loop trail we found Brown Creepers, a Pacific Wren, and a Hairy Woodpecker. Back at the Visitor?s Center for the final tally we found three Ring-necked Ducks and the pair of Pied-billed Grebes. The full checklist follows: Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR, Thurston, Washington, US Dec 10, 2025 8:00 AM - 2:28 PM Protocol: Traveling 5.319 mile(s) Checklist Comments: Wednesday Walk. Moderate rain to begin with, slacking to light rain by mid-afternoon, with temperatures steady at 56-58? F throughout the day. Winds were 5-8 knots in the wooded areas, but were 15-30+ knots on the north dike and the estuary boardwalk. Unable to scope beyond the salt marsh to Nisqually Reach due to mist and wind waves. A -0.5-foot low tide at 3 a.m. flooded to a +14.9-foot high water at 10:30 before slowly ebbing toward a +6.3-foot low by 5:07 p.m. Mammals seen included Eastern Gray Squirrel, Columbian Black-tailed Deer, Harbor Seal, and a Coyote. 62 species (+4 other taxa) Cackling Goose (minima) 225 Canada Goose 75 Northern Shoveler 115 Gadwall 45 Eurasian Wigeon 1 Surge plain with American Wigeon, Pintails and Gadwalls American Wigeon 1475 Mallard 170 Northern Pintail 885 Green-winged Teal 300 Ring-necked Duck 3 Visitors' Center Pond Surf Scoter 30 Bufflehead 50 Common Goldeneye 11 Hooded Merganser 4 Common Merganser 3 Red-breasted Merganser 1 McAllister Creek Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 16 Entrance gate light standards American Coot 9 Greater Yellowlegs 65 Flocks of 28 in flooded field and 33 in the surge plain, with others along McAllister Creek Dunlin 650 Least Sandpiper 4 Vocalizing Short-billed Gull 55 Ring-billed Gull 35 Glaucous-winged Gull 1 Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 6 Western/Glaucous-winged Gull 25 Pied-billed Grebe 3 Visitors' Center Pond Double-crested Cormorant 9 American Bittern 1 At least one bird. As we went out toward the estuary boardwalk, a bittern flushed from the base of the dike at the south base of the estuary boardwalk and flew south into the marsh. As we returned, a(nother?) bittern flushed about 50 meters east of the boardwalk and also flew about 100 meters into the cattail marsh. Great Blue Heron 18 Northern Harrier 3 Bald Eagle 14 Red-tailed Hawk (calurus/alascensis) 1 Dark adult near the Visitors' Center Belted Kingfisher 1 Downy Woodpecker (Pacific) 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 2 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1 * Continuing female. Yellow flight feathers, buffy face and heavy red nape, seen in alders near the north dike just north of the Twin Barns Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 1 Merlin 1 Peregrine Falcon 1 American Crow 25 Common Raven 1 Black-capped Chickadee 18 Chestnut-backed Chickadee 6 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 8 Golden-crowned Kinglet 16 Brown Creeper 3 Pacific Wren (Pacific) 3 Marsh Wren 1 Bewick's Wren 2 European Starling 35 American Robin 11 House Finch 1 Purple Finch 3 American Goldfinch 2 Fox Sparrow (Sooty) 3 Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 1 White-crowned Sparrow (pugetensis) 1 Adult with Golden-crowned Sparrows near Leschi Slough tide gate Golden-crowned Sparrow 38 White-throated Sparrow 2 Tan striped bird with Golden-crowned Sparrows near Leschi Slough tide gate, and white striped bird further to the east along the north dike Song Sparrow (rufina Group) 16 Spotted Towhee (oregonus Group) 14 Western Meadowlark 1 Red-winged Blackbird 140 Orange-crowned Warbler (Gray-headed) 1 Found by Heather in the willows along the north dike near the Leschi Slough tide gate View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S288089179 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 11 17:37:16 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 11 17:37:22 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Short-tailed Shearwater photos Message-ID: Christopher Dunagan is looking for photos from the Short-tailed Shearwater invasion. Here is his note to me: I am a science writer with the Puget Sound Institute. I am looking for photographs of short-tailed shearwaters seen in Puget Sound this fall. Publication will be in my blog, Our Water Ways, as well as the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. I am particularly seeking a photo showing large numbers of birds, one that depicts the surrounding landscape, or one that includes people, boats or other interesting features along with the birds. Thank you. I have sent him a few photos, but you can see what he is still asking for. He needs photos of high resolution (300 dpi), as some of the photos may be printed. You can send them to him at chrisbdunagan@gmail.com , and please cc me, so I can see if this request bears fruit, er shearwaters. And thanks! Dennis Paulson Seattle -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 11 23:48:29 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Kersti Muul via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 11 23:48:41 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Re mic-merlin Message-ID: I purchased a TX tune last year and it's great for the price: Lapel Microphone Wireless for Android Phone - USB C Lavalier Microphone for iPhone 16 15, Noise Cancelling Clip On Mic for Video Recording Vlogging, 24H Charging Case (USB Type-C) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 12 10:29:10 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Michael Hobbs via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 12 10:29:26 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Marymoor Park (Redmond, King Co.) 2025-12-11 Message-ID: Tweets - Yesterday, it was just me and Matt Bartels. Everyone else had better things to do than walk around in the rain. (To be fair, many of them really *did* have better things to do). As it turned out, though, yesterday wasn't too bad. It did rain for much of the morning, but it was worst before dawn and in tapered off completely before 10 a.m. Brighter than last week, and a bit birdier too. Flooding was not as bad as we anticipated; the rain hasn't been that hard in Redmond, and the fields were not really flooded at all. Lake levels were up, but the boardwalk was only under a few inches of water. Highlights: Barred Owl - Matt had one next to the boardwalk pre-dawn, our first Barred for November/December ever MERLIN - Taiga-type bird landed near the concert venue Purple Finch - Some really good, close looks while we were at the Rowing Club White-throated Sparrow - Two underneath the heronry Western Meadowlark - At least fourteen near the entrance to Lot G Misses were notable yesterday, especially among geese and ducks, though part of the problem was our inability to identify silent fly-over flocks. Misses yesterday included: Canada Goose !!! (though we had several flying flocks that were probably Canada and not Cackling, and one flock of 6 birds that were probably Greater White-fronted Goose), Gadwall, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal (though a flyby flock of ~30 was almost surely this species), Ring-necked Duck, Anna's Hummingbird, American Coot, Killdeer, Ring-billed Gull, Downy Woodpecker (though we may have heard one), Northern Shrike, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Pine Siskin, and Lincoln's Sparrow. I figure the waterfowl have so many other choices of wet areas right now that they don't need to hang out with the Bald Eagles at Marymoor. Despite that extensive list of misses, we had 47 species we were able to identify yesterday. Not bad, given the circumstances. = Michael Hobbs = BirdMarymoor@gmail.com = www.marymoor.org/birding.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 12 12:16:07 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Peter Wimberger via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 12 12:16:37 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] 2 East side bird counts next week Message-ID: Hi Tweets, If anyone is in north central Washington and is jonesing to get out to do a CBC, there are two great counts happening. Sometimes those cool northern species like Bohemian Waxwings and Redpolls show up for us! The Bridgeport count often sports the highest counts of waterfowl in the state! This year the lack of snow and ice may change things - help us find out! On Monday, Dec 15, the Twisp Bird Count is happening (contact: spruettjones@gmail.com). The initial meeting will be at the Cinnamon Twisp at 7 AM. On Wednesday, Dec 17, the Bridgeport Bird Count is happening (contact phwimberger@pugetsound.edu). The initial meeting will be at the McDonalds in Brewster at 7 AM. Hope to see some of you there! Peter Wimberger Tacoma/Winthrop, WA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 12 14:29:12 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jim Betz via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 12 14:29:16 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Birding in Puerto Vallarta ,.. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <9f1132b6-5005-490e-b96b-96182700ad0d@jimbetz.com> Hi all, ? We took our second guided birding tour yesterday.? Here's a link to the photos from a boating trip on the Rio Ameca, and a driving/walking trip to the area known as San Pancho (aka San Francisco) which is just North of Sayulita. I also included two pictures I took of the captive Harris's Hawk they use for "Graeckle Control" here at Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta. ? I can -HIGHLY- recommend our guide ... Antonio Robles.? He is excellent! https://eamon.smugmug.com/Family-pics-from-jim/Birds-and-Stuff-from-Jim/n-4Cw3NF/PV-2025/i-pZtbvxM/A ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?- Jim in Skagit (after we return) P.S. Yes, we know about the flooding ... but our home is not affected. From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 12 15:04:47 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (BRAD Liljequist via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 12 15:04:52 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Merlin mic Message-ID: Hi, I got all excited about using a mic with my phone for Merlin - I bought both Sennheiser MKE 200 and 600's. To be honest, they help, but not in a transformative way. That, combined with my wife's worry that someone would think I have a gun in my hand (!) has resulted in me not using them much. It does seem like the phone mics (mine a Samsung) do pretty well. I do still wonder about a parabolic mic but that's going into full geekdom, and I have enough of that elsewhere in my life. Brad Liljequist Seattle, WA, USA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 12 16:35:30 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Joe Buchanan via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 12 16:35:34 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Wanted: Photos of Injured Dunlins Message-ID: <2042213016.154157.1765586130231@connect.xfinity.com> Hi Tweets - This is a request for photographs to include in a manuscript that I will soon submit to an ornithological journal. I recently completed a five-year study that examined the seasonal frequency of injured Dunlins that overwinter in western Washington. The primary injury I documented was a broken (fresh or healed) tarsus. I don't have a camera and was therefore unable to get images of injured Dunlins. If you have images of injured Dunlins that you would like to share, photo credit would be included for any images used. Thanks in advance for considering this request. Joe Buchanan Olympia, WA jlrj at comcast dot net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 12 18:06:34 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 12 18:06:38 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Short-tailed Shearwater photos Message-ID: <4D9BFF83-AF2C-4E77-93FC-07B3AC99CD2F@comcast.net> Elaine reminded me again that for those of you on the Digest mode, my email address doesn?t come through, so I?ve added it at the bottom here. Sorry for the repetition for all others! Dennis ----------------- Christopher Dunagan is looking for photos from the Short-tailed Shearwater invasion. Here is his note to me: I am a science writer with the Puget Sound Institute. I am looking for photographs of short-tailed shearwaters seen in Puget Sound this fall. Publication will be in my blog, Our Water Ways, as well as the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. I am particularly seeking a photo showing large numbers of birds, one that depicts the surrounding landscape, or one that includes people, boats or other interesting features along with the birds. Thank you. I have sent him a few photos, but you can see what he is still asking for. He needs photos of high resolution (300 dpi), as some of the photos may be printed. You can send them to him at chrisbdunagan@gmail.com , and please cc me, so I can see if this request bears fruit, er shearwaters. And thanks! Dennis Paulson Seattle dennispaulson at comcast dot net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 12 18:08:58 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Steve Hampton via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 12 18:09:13 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] summary of shearwater invasion in the Salish Current Message-ID: Here's a short piece I wrote for the Salish Current. *Shearwaters visit Salish Sea in record numbers * I've got some eBird numbers in there - and some cool pics from local birders. By the way, today at Pt Wilson, Port Townsend, there were over 200 Ancient Murrelets and the K-pod went by northbound. No shearwaters; haven't seen them since mid-Nov. good birding, -- Steve Hampton Port Townsend, WA (qat?y) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 12 19:07:08 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Robert O'Brien via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 12 19:07:22 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Merlin mic In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thanks for that Mic info. I got Costco hearing aids a year or so ago and suddenly I was able to hear bids i had not heard in years BUT, it seemed impossible to determine the direction of the bird sound. AND Merlin with my Samsung S25+ still hears WAY more birds than I do. And I'm glad of it. I cannot hear Brown Creepers at all and it picks them up all the time. Always helpful to get more information about 'Hearing while Birding'. Thanks for posting Bob OBrien Portland On Fri, Dec 12, 2025 at 3:05?PM BRAD Liljequist via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Hi, > > I got all excited about using a mic with my phone for Merlin - I bought > both Sennheiser MKE 200 and 600's. To be honest, they help, but not in a > transformative way. That, combined with my wife's worry that someone would > think I have a gun in my hand (!) has resulted in me not using them much. > It does seem like the phone mics (mine a Samsung) do pretty well. I do > still wonder about a parabolic mic but that's going into full geekdom, and > I have enough of that elsewhere in my life. > > Brad Liljequist > Seattle, WA, USA > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 13 07:10:37 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (David Swinford via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 13 07:10:51 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Merlin mic In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I am curious if the mic attachment to a phone improves the quality of your spectrograms? I have a Google Pixel 8 pro and use Merlin and the Recorder App to record, Audacity to edit. I'm not able to get spectrograms crisp enough to get what I want, which is the ability to ID Red Crossbills by their type of flight call. The spectrograms lack sufficient detail. Some folks that do have success getting crisp spectrograms using basic gear are using iphones. I wonder if the quality of the mic on a Pixel is less than an iphone? Thank you! Dave Swinford On Fri, Dec 12, 2025 at 7:07?PM Robert O'Brien via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Thanks for that Mic info. I got Costco hearing aids a year or so ago and > suddenly I was able to hear bids i had not heard in years > BUT, it seemed impossible to determine the direction of the bird sound. > AND Merlin with my Samsung S25+ still hears WAY more birds than I do. And > I'm glad of it. I cannot hear Brown Creepers at all and it picks them up > all the time. > Always helpful to get more information about 'Hearing while Birding'. > Thanks for posting > Bob OBrien Portland > > On Fri, Dec 12, 2025 at 3:05?PM BRAD Liljequist via Tweeters < > tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> I got all excited about using a mic with my phone for Merlin - I bought >> both Sennheiser MKE 200 and 600's. To be honest, they help, but not in a >> transformative way. That, combined with my wife's worry that someone would >> think I have a gun in my hand (!) has resulted in me not using them much. >> It does seem like the phone mics (mine a Samsung) do pretty well. I do >> still wonder about a parabolic mic but that's going into full geekdom, and >> I have enough of that elsewhere in my life. >> >> Brad Liljequist >> Seattle, WA, USA >> _______________________________________________ >> Tweeters mailing list >> Tweeters@u.washington.edu >> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters >> > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 13 10:07:17 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Odette James via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 13 10:07:22 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Barrows Goldeneye References: <1003914632.419918.1765649237296.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1003914632.419918.1765649237296@mail.yahoo.com> If anyone cares, one of the Goldeneyes rummaging around at the edges of the mess of floating debris at the mouth of the Cedar River is a male Barrow's Goldeneye. There are, as usual this time of year, a number of Commons, but the Barrow's is a treat. As if the Cedar River Sockeyes were not in enough trouble, the flooding during this last storm should have pretty much done in this year's wild run. Fingers crossed for the survival of this year's hatchery run. Odette James, Lakeshore Retirement Community -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 13 13:12:15 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (HAL MICHAEL via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 13 13:12:21 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Barrows Goldeneye In-Reply-To: <1003914632.419918.1765649237296@mail.yahoo.com> References: <1003914632.419918.1765649237296.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <1003914632.419918.1765649237296@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1023330323.168709.1765660335858@connect.xfinity.com> Oddly, here on Budd Inlet our most common Goldeneye is Barrows with the occasional Common. Have a small flock here now. Hal Michael Board of Directors, Ecologists Without Borders http://ecowb.org/ Olympia WA 360-459-4005 360-791-7702 (C) ucd880@comcast.net > On 12/13/2025 10:07 AM PST Odette James via Tweeters wrote: > > > If anyone cares, one of the Goldeneyes rummaging around at the edges of the mess of floating debris at the mouth of the Cedar River is a male Barrow's Goldeneye. There are, as usual this time of year, a number of Commons, but the Barrow's is a treat. > > As if the Cedar River Sockeyes were not in enough trouble, the flooding during this last storm should have pretty much done in this year's wild run. Fingers crossed for the survival of this year's hatchery run. > > Odette James, Lakeshore Retirement Community > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 14 14:07:23 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Ian Paulsen via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 14 14:07:26 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Best Bird Books of 2025 Message-ID: <15d883f9-b48-9683-2eef-2e383d7be7a5@zipcon.net> HI ALL: I just posted my Best Bird Books of 2025 at my blog here: https://birdbookerreport.blogspot.com/2025/12/best-bird-books-of-2025.html sincerely Ian Paulsen Bainbridge Island, WA, USA Visit my BIRDBOOKER REPORT blog here: https://birdbookerreport.blogspot.com/ From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 14 15:46:29 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Ellen Cohen via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 14 15:46:47 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] =?utf-8?q?NYTimes=2Ecom=3A_In_Washington=2C_Birds_Are_?= =?utf-8?q?Giving_=E2=80=98Yelp_Reviews=E2=80=99_of_Forest_Restoration_Wor?= =?utf-8?q?k?= References: Message-ID: Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. In Washington, Birds Are Giving ?Yelp Reviews? of Forest Restoration Work A collective of land trusts, conservancies and tribes is capturing birdsong with audio gear and A.I. for clues about habitat health. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/climate/washington-birds-habitat-health.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8k8.PcRE.sWwKd9HQ3m5F&smid=em-share From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 15 12:24:01 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jeff Borsecnik via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 15 12:24:08 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Best bird books In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Cool list, thanks! Anyone else read the detective book? Get Outlook for Android ________________________________ From: Tweeters on behalf of via Tweeters Sent: Monday, December 15, 2025 3:00:58 PM To: tweeters@u.washington.edu Subject: Tweeters Digest, Vol 256, Issue 15 Send Tweeters mailing list submissions to tweeters@u.washington.edu To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmailman11.u.washington.edu%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Ftweeters&data=05%7C02%7C%7C6ca32c7e6efc47a5145508de3c14c235%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639014257035133208%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=K6QKMsV3C931u4Cbcay1qzaFVZVqd6cuVqdz0B%2Bo2zE%3D&reserved=0 or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to tweeters-request@mailman11.u.washington.edu You can reach the person managing the list at tweeters-owner@mailman11.u.washington.edu When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Tweeters digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Best Bird Books of 2025 (Ian Paulsen via Tweeters) 2. NYTimes.com: In Washington, Birds Are Giving ?Yelp Reviews? of Forest Restoration Work (Ellen Cohen via Tweeters) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2025 14:07:23 -0800 (PST) From: Ian Paulsen via Tweeters To: tweeters@u.washington.edu Subject: [Tweeters] Best Bird Books of 2025 Message-ID: <15d883f9-b48-9683-2eef-2e383d7be7a5@zipcon.net> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII HI ALL: I just posted my Best Bird Books of 2025 at my blog here: https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbirdbookerreport.blogspot.com%2F2025%2F12%2Fbest-bird-books-of-2025.html&data=05%7C02%7C%7C6ca32c7e6efc47a5145508de3c14c235%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639014257035158363%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Dz9XJXsDzKtIW3%2BLeXvSOPX0YQQZNVE7M0tTpgstIgQ%3D&reserved=0 sincerely Ian Paulsen Bainbridge Island, WA, USA Visit my BIRDBOOKER REPORT blog here: https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbirdbookerreport.blogspot.com%2F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C6ca32c7e6efc47a5145508de3c14c235%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639014257035178540%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=izPG2rF0aiwq5xNMEg96%2Bds7o1P4FjsZpcb4frYkw%2Bs%3D&reserved=0 ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2025 15:46:29 -0800 From: Ellen Cohen via Tweeters To: tweeters@u.washington.edu Subject: [Tweeters] NYTimes.com: In Washington, Birds Are Giving ?Yelp Reviews? of Forest Restoration Work Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. In Washington, Birds Are Giving ?Yelp Reviews? of Forest Restoration Work A collective of land trusts, conservancies and tribes is capturing birdsong with audio gear and A.I. for clues about habitat health. https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F11%2F18%2Fclimate%2Fwashington-birds-habitat-health.html%3Funlocked_article_code%3D1.8k8.PcRE.sWwKd9HQ3m5F%26smid%3Dem-share&data=05%7C02%7C%7C6ca32c7e6efc47a5145508de3c14c235%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639014257035197902%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=PS6Xhf%2FG0vaMDsW4%2B8zV%2FhfdE85tX6oVb7rpNMiSQO8%3D&reserved=0 ------------------------------ Subject: Digest Footer _______________________________________________ Tweeters mailing list Tweeters@mailman11.u.washington.edu https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmailman11.u.washington.edu%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Ftweeters&data=05%7C02%7C%7C6ca32c7e6efc47a5145508de3c14c235%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639014257035217913%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=d2IetY9nlulC9pxC6w5f3PVHJL56driN3kxyJUHKIno%3D&reserved=0 ------------------------------ End of Tweeters Digest, Vol 256, Issue 15 ***************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 15 13:07:19 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 15 13:07:26 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Best bird books In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <65730CEF-7DDB-4491-9E03-5381CD6312CE@comcast.net> Jeff, we read it and loved it. I met Roxie Laybourne at the Smithsonian many years ago, and it?s great to learn about all that she accomplished. And the book was so well-written! Dennis Paulson Seattle dennispaulson at comcast dot net > On Dec 15, 2025, at 12:24 PM, Jeff Borsecnik via Tweeters wrote: > > Cool list, thanks! Anyone else read the detective book? > > Get Outlook for Android > From: Tweeters on behalf of via Tweeters > Sent: Monday, December 15, 2025 3:00:58 PM > To: tweeters@u.washington.edu > Subject: Tweeters Digest, Vol 256, Issue 15 > > Send Tweeters mailing list submissions to > tweeters@u.washington.edu > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmailman11.u.washington.edu%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Ftweeters&data=05%7C02%7C%7C6ca32c7e6efc47a5145508de3c14c235%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639014257035133208%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=K6QKMsV3C931u4Cbcay1qzaFVZVqd6cuVqdz0B%2Bo2zE%3D&reserved=0 > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > tweeters-request@mailman11.u.washington.edu > > You can reach the person managing the list at > tweeters-owner@mailman11.u.washington.edu > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Tweeters digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Best Bird Books of 2025 (Ian Paulsen via Tweeters) > 2. NYTimes.com: In Washington, Birds Are Giving ?Yelp Reviews? > of Forest Restoration Work (Ellen Cohen via Tweeters) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2025 14:07:23 -0800 (PST) > From: Ian Paulsen via Tweeters > To: tweeters@u.washington.edu > Subject: [Tweeters] Best Bird Books of 2025 > Message-ID: <15d883f9-b48-9683-2eef-2e383d7be7a5@zipcon.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII > > HI ALL: > I just posted my Best Bird Books of 2025 at my blog here: > > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbirdbookerreport.blogspot.com%2F2025%2F12%2Fbest-bird-books-of-2025.html&data=05%7C02%7C%7C6ca32c7e6efc47a5145508de3c14c235%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639014257035158363%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Dz9XJXsDzKtIW3%2BLeXvSOPX0YQQZNVE7M0tTpgstIgQ%3D&reserved=0 > > sincerely > Ian Paulsen > Bainbridge Island, WA, USA > Visit my BIRDBOOKER REPORT blog here: > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbirdbookerreport.blogspot.com%2F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C6ca32c7e6efc47a5145508de3c14c235%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639014257035178540%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=izPG2rF0aiwq5xNMEg96%2Bds7o1P4FjsZpcb4frYkw%2Bs%3D&reserved=0 > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2025 15:46:29 -0800 > From: Ellen Cohen via Tweeters > To: tweeters@u.washington.edu > Subject: [Tweeters] NYTimes.com: In Washington, Birds Are Giving ?Yelp > Reviews? of Forest Restoration Work > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 > > Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. > > In Washington, Birds Are Giving ?Yelp Reviews? of Forest Restoration Work > > A collective of land trusts, conservancies and tribes is capturing birdsong with audio gear and A.I. for clues about habitat health. > > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F11%2F18%2Fclimate%2Fwashington-birds-habitat-health.html%3Funlocked_article_code%3D1.8k8.PcRE.sWwKd9HQ3m5F%26smid%3Dem-share&data=05%7C02%7C%7C6ca32c7e6efc47a5145508de3c14c235%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639014257035197902%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=PS6Xhf%2FG0vaMDsW4%2B8zV%2FhfdE85tX6oVb7rpNMiSQO8%3D&reserved=0 > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@mailman11.u.washington.edu > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmailman11.u.washington.edu%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Ftweeters&data=05%7C02%7C%7C6ca32c7e6efc47a5145508de3c14c235%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639014257035217913%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=d2IetY9nlulC9pxC6w5f3PVHJL56driN3kxyJUHKIno%3D&reserved=0 > > ------------------------------ > > End of Tweeters Digest, Vol 256, Issue 15 > ***************************************** > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 15 13:39:39 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Diann MacRae via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 15 13:39:45 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] "detective" book Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 15 14:06:37 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (deborah kirner via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 15 14:06:42 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] "detective" book In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1336533763.215510.1765836397884@connect.xfinity.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 15 17:59:02 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Denis DeSilvis via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 15 17:59:15 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] JBLM Eagles Pride Golf Course Monthly Birdwalk - Thursday, December 18 - 9:00AM Start Message-ID: Hi Tweeters, The next Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM) Eagle's Pride Golf Course (GC) birdwalk is scheduled for Thursday, December 18, at 9:00AM. The JBLM Eagles Pride GC birders do the tour d'course the third Thursday of every month. We meet at 9:00AM through February 2026. (Change to 8:00AM in March.) Starting point is the Driving Range Tee, Eagle's Pride Golf Course, I-5 Exit 116, Mounts Road Exit. When you turn into the course entrance, take an immediate left onto the road to the driving range - that's where we meet. Also, to remind folks that haven't been here before, even though Eagle's Pride is a US Army recreation facility, you don't need any ID to attend these birdwalks. Hope you're able to make it! Current weather forecast rain, rain, and more rain. I hope we don't need a boat to do the "walk." As always, dress for success! May all your birds be identified, Denis Denis DeSilvis Avnacrs 4 birds at outlook dot com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 16 14:45:31 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Marv via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 16 14:45:48 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Kent Valley Harris's Sparrow Message-ID: This afternoon there was a HARRIS'S SPARROW along S 204th Street, west of Frager Road, in Kent. Video: https://flic.kr/ps/376fhN If you look for this bird, be mindful of the high water level in the marsh on S 204th St as well as the high water of the Green River on Frager Rd. Conditions can change very quickly. -- Marv Breece Tukwila, WA *marvbreece@gmail.com * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 17 13:20:12 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Tom and Carol Stoner via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 17 13:20:43 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] The Feather Detective Message-ID: I really enjoyed this book. It's available through both the Seattle and King County Public Libraries. Carol Stoner West Seattle -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 17 17:29:42 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dan Reiff via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 17 17:29:47 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] =?utf-8?q?NATIONAL_GEOGRAPHIC=3A_Pumas_came_back_to_Pa?= =?utf-8?q?tagonia=E2=80=94and_met_penguins=2E_What_happened_next_surprise?= =?utf-8?q?d_scientists=2E?= Message-ID: <7E27524A-1656-4C71-9772-F9FBD4BF8BFF@gmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 17 19:45:28 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Philomena O'Neill via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 17 19:45:45 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] =?utf-8?q?NATIONAL_GEOGRAPHIC=3A_Pumas_came_back_to_Pa?= =?utf-8?q?tagonia=E2=80=94and_met_penguins=2E_What_happened_next_surprise?= =?utf-8?q?d_scientists=2E?= In-Reply-To: <7E27524A-1656-4C71-9772-F9FBD4BF8BFF@gmail.com> References: <7E27524A-1656-4C71-9772-F9FBD4BF8BFF@gmail.com> Message-ID: <1B6EAE89-8AFE-42A1-9C37-688ECF46C4B3@comcast.net> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 18 09:32:12 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Nancy Crowell via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 18 09:32:18 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] =?windows-1252?q?NATIONAL_GEOGRAPHIC=3A_Pumas_came_bac?= =?windows-1252?q?k_to_Patagonia=97and_met_penguins=2E_What_happened_next_?= =?windows-1252?q?surprised_scientists=2E?= In-Reply-To: <7E27524A-1656-4C71-9772-F9FBD4BF8BFF@gmail.com> References: <7E27524A-1656-4C71-9772-F9FBD4BF8BFF@gmail.com> Message-ID: Thanks Dan! Fascinating. Nancy "Images for the imagination." www.crowellphotography.com ________________________________ From: Tweeters on behalf of Dan Reiff via Tweeters Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2025 5:29:42 PM To: Tweeters Subject: [Tweeters] NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: Pumas came back to Patagonia?and met penguins. What happened next surprised scientists. Pumas came back to Patagonia?and met penguins. What happened next surprised scientists. A natural experiment in a national park in Patagonia shows how the return of a large predator can reshape an ecosystem. Read in National Geographic: https://apple.news/AHLqCUhIXRpi2mrrOwxMRXA Shared from Apple News Sent from my iPhone -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 18 10:47:34 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Carol Riddell via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 18 10:47:49 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Edmonds Roundup - November 2025 Message-ID: <00433C27-61F9-40FB-BC10-64DCA9269DFE@gmail.com> Hi Tweets, We ended November with 186 species on the Edmonds year list. New species, in taxonomic order, include: Trumpeter Swan (code 4), 18 in flight along the waterfront and vocalizing honks, 11-26-25. (There were multiple other eBird reports on different days but none described the swans or in any way distinguished them from Tundra Swans.) Lesser Scaup (code 3), several on the water near the ferry dock, 11-30-25. Long-tailed Duck (code 3), one drake in flight on the waterfront, 11-30-25. American Herring Gull (code 4), one adult at the waterfront (critical field marks described), 11-30-25. Snowy Owl (code 4), one on the waterfront, seen and photographed by multiple birders, 11-19-25. Other birds of interest: A pair of Great Horned Owls (code 4), were heard calling during the evening near Olympic View Drive and Cherry Street, 11-23-25. There was one report of a Snohomish County Turkey Vulture in November, but it was near Arlington?none in Edmonds. As always, I appreciate it when birders get in touch with me to share sightings, photos, or audio. It helps us build our collective year list. If you would like a copy of our 2025 city checklist, please request it from checklistedmonds at gmail dot com. (It reflects a species total of 283) If eBirders will use the details field in their checklists to add critical field mark for unusual Edmonds birds (code 3 or rarer), it will help us build the city year list. Photographs or recordings are also helpful. The 2025 checklist is posted in the bird information box at the Visitor Station at the base of the public pier and is up to date through November. Good birding, Carol Riddell Edmonds, WA cariddellwa at gmail dot com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 18 14:55:46 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Michael Hobbs via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 18 14:56:02 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Marymoor Park (Redmond, King Co.) 2025-12-18 Message-ID: Tweets - Marymoor is partially flooded, and we could not get to the southern end at all. Add to that on-and-off precipitation, dark overcast, occasional winds, and it made for a fairly birdless walk this morning. At least it wasn't too cold, with temps right around 45 degrees. Highlights: Brown Creeper - Faint but complete song at the Rowing Club Pacific Wren - One spontaneously burst into loud song just when we got to the slough Northern Shrike - We had to venture way out to the Model Airplane Field, but we finally managed recognizable views. First sighting in 6 weeks Western Meadowlark - At least 18 near the NE ball fields Coyote - One, when we were looking at the shrike The Rowing Club - Birdiest part of the walk, with six new species for the day, including our only finches. Some good looks at actual birds too Lowlights: ZERO GEESE Only about 10 dabbling ducks: MALLARDS plus a pair each of GADWALL and AMERICAN WIGEON Misses included Cackling Goose, Canada Goose, Green-winged Teal, Anna's Hummingbird, American Coot, Steller's Jay, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Marsh Wren, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch, and White-crowned Sparrow. The five of us managed 45 hard-won species by the end. Happy Solstice everyone. Let's hope we can all dry out. = Michael Hobbs = BirdMarymoor@gmail.com = www.marymoor.org/birding.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 18 17:48:50 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Roger Moyer via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 18 17:48:53 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Satsop CBC Message-ID: I'm seeking clairfication on the date for the Satsop CBC. My email from the leader says its on Saturday, December 29. However Saturday is on the 27th. So I'm unsure which date is correct. Roger Moyer Chehalis, WA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 18 18:39:36 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Hank Heiberg via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 18 18:39:50 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] American Dippers at Tokul Creek References: Message-ID: <9A814984-9576-4ED7-B5F4-18FFFC87BFF7@gmail.com> Yesterday we went to Tokul Creek in the Snoqualmie Valley to see how the American Dippers were dealing with the high water flow. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ljcouple/54991353145/in/photostream/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/ljcouple/54991998482/in/dateposted/ (video) The Dippers were still feeding in the creek as usual. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ljcouple/54991353540/in/dateposted/ However they were mostly moving along the bank and then feeding while standing on the bank. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ljcouple/54991317649/in/photostream/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/ljcouple/54990176667/in/photostream/ We were happy to find them and that they were coping, no problem. Hank & Karen Heiberg Issaquah, WA hankdotheiberggmail -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 18 19:40:25 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (byers345@comcast.net via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 18 19:40:40 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Best of year photos Message-ID: Hello Tweeters, ????As usual, Bill and I have traveled all over Washington State this past year and taken thousands of pictures. I have chosen what I think are the best 50 photos of the thousands to put in an end-of-the year album for Tweeters. This album is organized in roughly chronological order. It's something to look at when the weather is too nasty to go birding.??Happy holidays! https://www.flickr.com/photos/29258421@N07/albums/72177720330981035 Charlotte Byers, Edmonds -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 18 19:55:53 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Philomena O'Neill via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 18 19:56:09 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Best of year photos In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Really enjoyed these, thanks for sharing! Philomena Sent from my iPhone > On Dec 18, 2025, at 7:41?PM, byers345@comcast.net via Tweeters wrote: > > ? > > Hello Tweeters, > > ????As usual, Bill and I have traveled all over Washington State this past year and taken thousands of pictures. I have chosen what I think are the best 50 photos of the thousands to put in an end-of-the year album for Tweeters. This album is organized in roughly chronological order. It's something to look at when the weather is too nasty to go birding.??Happy holidays! > > https://www.flickr.com/photos/29258421@N07/albums/72177720330981035 > > Charlotte Byers, Edmonds > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 18 19:56:45 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Alan Roedell via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 18 19:56:57 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Best of year photos In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Great photos! Thanks for all the hard work/pleasure. I'll keep this to watch again. Alan Roedell Seattle On Thu, Dec 18, 2025, 7:40?PM byers345@comcast.net via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > > Hello Tweeters, > > As usual, Bill and I have traveled all over Washington State this past > year and taken thousands of pictures. I have chosen what I think are the > best 50 photos of the thousands to put in an end-of-the year album for > Tweeters. This album is organized in roughly chronological order. It's > something to look at when the weather is too nasty to go birding. Happy > holidays! > > https://www.flickr.com/photos/29258421@N07/albums/72177720330981035 > > Charlotte Byers, Edmonds > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 19 08:11:00 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 19 08:11:05 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Best of year photos In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charlotte, those are superb. Thanks so much for sharing them! Dennis Paulson Seattle dennispaulson at comcast dot net > On Dec 18, 2025, at 7:40 PM, byers345@comcast.net via Tweeters wrote: > > > Hello Tweeters, > > ????As usual, Bill and I have traveled all over Washington State this past year and taken thousands of pictures. I have chosen what I think are the best 50 photos of the thousands to put in an end-of-the year album for Tweeters. This album is organized in roughly chronological order. It's something to look at when the weather is too nasty to go birding.??Happy holidays! > > https://www.flickr.com/photos/29258421@N07/albums/72177720330981035 > > Charlotte Byers, Edmonds > > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 19 12:36:01 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Kenneth Brown via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 19 12:36:05 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Nisqually Wednesday in December Message-ID: <917171823.140192.1766176561364@connect.xfinity.com> I arrived early, before the entrance gate was open, intent on getting out to the Twin Barns before sunrise, hoping to catch sight of the Barn Owls as they returned to their roost. As I waited in the dark, an Owl flew right to left across a gap in the roadside brush, illuminated by my headlights. The bird was too big, too gray, to be a Barn or Short-eared Owl. Barred Owl. Maybe this will be a two-owl day. A few minutes later, on a timer, the gate opened. Driving in, the road was littered with small branches, It had been windy overnight. Past the side road to the Maintenance compound, past the orchard and the south entrance to the south parking lot, my headlights showed a wall of green limbs blocking the road. I entered the south lot to find it mostly obstructed by the shattered top of the large Cottonwood that had fallen, taking other trees with it Moving as far toward the smaller tops as possible, I drove over them, the broken wood thumping against my car's undercarriage. I parked in the empty north lot, grabbed my binoculars and rain coat, and hurried up the gravel service road to the Twin Barns platform. It was still dark, the moon not visible, but Jupiter was a bright beacon in the western sky. I scanned the dim fields and the sky, checked the owl's usual entrance to the barns repeatedly, but no luck. I heard Canada and Cackling Geese, then Mallards and American Wigeon vocalizing. As daylight came on, a flock of Northern Shovelers materialized in the flooded fields, along with three Swans. After 20-30 minutes I surrendered to the necessity to return to the Visitor's Center to meet the birders who would arrive for the weekly walk. Original intent unfulfilled, but time not wasted. Back at the Visitor's Center, Refuge staff had arrived and already begun cleaning up the south lot to make it usable as a bypass for the blocked section of entrance road. Steve informed us that staff had told him that the previous week, two adult Barn Owls had been discovered dead inside the barn. Samples have been sent off for toxic substance analysis, the birds frozen for possible necropsy later. Sad news to start the walk. On the pond a Muskrat made a "v" shaped wake as it swam, a couple of Pied-billed Grebes submerged and resurfaced. At the north end of the south lot, a small flock of Purple Finches decorated a bare Alder, Jon reported a Varied Thrush. The crew was making good progress cleaning up the lot. American Crows flew westerly overhead, not always in large numbers but a steady stream. In the play area Golden-crowned Sparrows picked through the leaf litter, the orchard gave up a couple Spotted Towhees and a Red-breasted Sapsucker. Near the Land Trust building, another Sapsucker played peekaboo as it spiraled around a multi-trunked bare tree. Along the entrance road, both the orchard to the east and the pond to the west were quiet and apparently bird free. Canada Geese, a few Mallards and some American Wigeon occupied the flooded field south of the bend in the service road. Rain showers came and went leaving everyone wet. A Northern Flicker perched in the tall Willow in the center of the pond west of the north parking lot. He was surrounded by Norther Shovelers, More Wigeon, and Green-winged Teal. a few red-winged Blackbirds showed themselves. Starting on the west side of the boardwalk loop trail, we noted a few Ring-necked Ducks and a lone female Bufflehead on the pond. The brush and trees were more productive with Fox, Song, and Golden-crowned Sparrows, Bewick's Wren, both Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a Downy Woodpecker, and Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees. At the north end of the pond where a spur road crosses, we found the loop trail roped off. We learned later a large tree had fallen across the trail crushing not only the railing but the decking too Out on the service road again. More of the same ducks, with a few American Coots. A "Gray Ghost", a male Northern Harrier, flying low, worked the western side of the field, changing direction, dipping behind tall grass then back into view. Three Swans on the far side emulated the Harrier by gliding in front and behind tall clumps of grass. A cloud of ducks lifted up when a Bald Eagle made a pass over, but settled back down after the Eagle moved on. Another Sapsucker at the Maple grove, then to the Twin Barnes platform. More of the same ducks. The Swans were closer in and in the open, making it easier to identify them as Tundra Swans.. Three Northern Harriers, an adult female, a Ghost and another younger male still morphing into his gray plumage made appearances. Visible from the dike, two adult Bald Eagles were renovating their old nest in the tall Cottonwood next to the Nisqually River. The tide was out showing a lot of mud, and distant ducks and occasional Greater Yellowlegs. Song and Golden-crowned Sparrows occupied both sides of the dike, Lincoln's Sparrow only on the north side, as were a pair of Meadowlarks. A Merlin chased smaller birds without apparent success. Once out of the wind shadow of the Willows, the wind, while not as strong as last week, felt colder because it was 15? colder, and we were wet. It was not a heavy rain but still penetrating. A flock of female Red-winged Blackbirds flew into a small bare Alder close in on the north side, showing off their vibrant plumage, some with a lot of red on their faces. To the south, a few ducks sheltered in the freshwater marsh, a couple more Coots mixed in. The boardwalk along McAllister Creek was slick from rain and the algae that accumulates on the outer edges. To the east was exposed mud spotted with a few gulls, and a lot of American Wigeon. To the west the greenish water of the creek showed a few Surf Scoters, Common Golden eye, and Bufflehead. A Horned Grebe popped up, to our pleasure, a Spotted Sandpiper flew swift and low downstream, then across the creek. Harbor Seals patrolled the water, just the tops of their heads above the surface. From the north end we could see more Scoters and Goldeneye, Red-breasted Mergansers, a Common Loon and a few more Horned grebes. Only a few Great Blue Herons were posted along the shore as were Double-crested Cormorants. Brandt's Cormorants occupied the channel marker. Returning to the dike we were pelted with ice pellets mixed with rain. We scanned the Wigeon again, searching unsuccessfully for a hidden Eurasion Wigeon. At the Nisqually River overlook, the water was again running high and muddy, though not as turbulent as last week.. It was devoid of waterfowl but a California Sea Lion was porpoising in the murky water at the bend of the river. Searching for unseen prey? We turned south on the east half of the loop trail, finding Brown Creeper, Chickadees and Kinglets. Heather hung back and found an Orange-crowned Warbler. The spur trail to the riparian area was blocked off , presumably due to storm damage, so we returned to the Visitor's Center deck for our final tally. To the east was a bright full arc rainbow, a happy ending for thee walk. The full checklist follows: Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR, Thurston, Washington, US Dec 17, 2025 7:45 AM - 12:52 PM Protocol: Traveling 2.395 mile(s) Checklist Comments: Wednesday Walk. Several trees blown down in last night's wind storm; including a significant section of the west side of the boardwalk loop, where 15 feet of the boardwalk was destroyed. The walk began on an Overcast, 40? F morning with a south breeze at 3-8 knots; the breeze increased as we went out on the north dike and estuary boardwalk to 12-15 knots, with rain and ice mixed showers around 2 p.m.; temperatures rose to 46? F. A +13.4-foot high tide at 05:34 a.m. was ebbing toward a ?high? low water of +8.6-feet at 10:36 a.m. Mammals seen included a muskrat at the Visitors' Center pond, Eastern Gray Squirrel, Columbian Black-tailed Deer, and eastern cottontail. There were Harbor Seals in McAllister Creek, and California Sea Lions in the Nisqually River. Total time was 7 hours and 35 minutes; total distance travelled was 5.09 miles 63 species (+4 other taxa) Cackling Goose (minima) 650 Cackling Goose (Taverner's) 25 Canada Goose 37 Trumpeter Swan 5 Jon observed 5 adults Flying south out of the refuge past the entrance gate. Vocalizing. Tundra Swan 3 Vocalizing, heard by Heather; observed in flooded field SW of the Twin Barns overlook. yellow dot at the Base of the bill two adults and a immature Northern Shoveler 135 Gadwall 14 American Wigeon 1035 Mallard 115 Northern Pintail 260 Green-winged Teal 400 Ring-necked Duck 13 Surf Scoter 12 Bufflehead 65 Common Goldeneye 15 Red-breasted Merganser 38 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 29 American Coot 11 Spotted Sandpiper 1 McAllister Creek Greater Yellowlegs 30 Dunlin 215 Least Sandpiper 48 Short-billed Gull 32 Ring-billed Gull 15 Glaucous-winged Gull 2 Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 4 Western/Glaucous-winged Gull 6 Pied-billed Grebe 2 Horned Grebe 4 McAllister Creek and off Luhr Beach Common Loon 1 Off Luhr Beach Brandt's Cormorant 12 Nisqually Reach channel marker Double-crested Cormorant 25 Great Blue Heron 11 Northern Harrier 4 Bald Eagle 11 Two adults carrying sticks to the nest in the cottonwood north of the dike along the Nisqually River. Red-tailed Hawk (calurus/alascensis) 3 Barred Owl 1 Ken observed At entrance gate at first light Belted Kingfisher 3 Red-breasted Sapsucker 4 Downy Woodpecker (Pacific) 1 Hairy Woodpecker (Pacific) 2 Northern Flicker 1 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 2 Merlin 2 Peregrine Falcon 1 California Scrub-Jay 1 American Crow 145 Black-capped Chickadee 8 Chestnut-backed Chickadee 15 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 9 Golden-crowned Kinglet 18 Brown Creeper 3 Pacific Wren 6 Marsh Wren 3 Bewick's Wren 1 European Starling 30 Varied Thrush 1 South Parking lot. American Robin 26 Purple Finch (Western) 9 Fox Sparrow (Sooty) 3 Golden-crowned Sparrow 42 Song Sparrow (rufina Group) 28 Lincoln's Sparrow 2 Spotted Towhee (oregonus Group) 4 Western Meadowlark 2 Red-winged Blackbird 16 Orange-crowned Warbler 2 Seen by Mary and by Heather View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S289114926 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 19 12:55:15 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Rachel Lawson via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 19 12:55:19 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Bird-and-Word Quiz Message-ID: Hello Tweets, Earlier this week, our dear friend Elaine Chuang, who you all know because of her generous work for our birding community, including keeping Tweeters running, sent us a little bird quiz. Her quiz was based on the children's book The Elf on the Shelf by Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell that begins with the question "You've heard of an elf on a shelf, but what about...?", followed by depictions of pairs of words for the reader to guess. Elaine sent us a few bird-related pairs of her own, including pictures of "a finch on a Grinch" and a "coot on a boot". We enjoy wordplay, so we started thinking up more pairs of birds and words and illustrating them with images we created using AI. Well, we got a bit carried away, and now that we have over 100 images, we have decided to share them with you. Please note, this is a silly bird quiz, not an ornithology textbook. The birds are recognizable, but not all have the correct field marks of particular species. Strangely, the program we used has trouble with numbers of toes, and we got tired of correcting it. Please excuse these and other little inaccuracies and biological improbabilities. Here?s the quiz: https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/0754c7cacc114ca78563978ebaecf6b5 Many thanks to Elaine for the original idea, to birding friends Douglas Marshall and Jeff Hopkins and our sister Sue Brooks, and niece Rebekah Brooks for contributing some birds and words, and to Dennis Paulson for his suggestions to improve the images. Maybe later, bird and word lover Blair Bernson will share his elaborations on the wordplay. This quiz is our parting holiday gift to the Tweeters community, as we leave the Pacific Northwest for Northwest England. We will miss you. Rachel Lawson and Joseph Brown Seattle rwlawson5593@outlook.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 19 13:32:26 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Kenneth Brown via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 19 13:32:29 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Follow up to Wednesday Walk Message-ID: <764537664.136144.1766179946311@connect.xfinity.com> Refuge staff reports that the Barn Owls tested positive for Avian Flu with no other obvious cause of death. The entrance road has been cleared and reopened but the damaged boardwalk section will take quite a bit more time. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 19 15:49:01 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Scott Ramos via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 19 15:49:41 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Peru trip blog - Lima coast and mountains Message-ID: Finally, the Peru report is complete. The last installment covers three day trips we made starting from Lima or nearby. The first entailed a long day, driving from sea level to 16,000 feet! We spent the most time in the Santa Eulalia valley where we were changing habitats, and birds, every hour or two, though mostly in arid environments. The second day, we went to two coastal environments, the Villa Marshes and Pucusana. A short pelagic out of the Pucusana port was a trip highlight, observing tropical Boobies, Pelicans and Cormorants. The last day was spent along the coastal dunes and marshes to the north where we were introduced to seedsnipes, thick-knees and dotterels, as well as Chilean Flamingos. Peru is a fascinating country with an astounding breadth of habitats. About the size of Alaska, this large country is well worth a lengthy visit or maybe multiple visits! Trip introduction https://naturenw.wordpress.com/2025/06/17/peru-2025/ Lima hotspots https://naturenw.wordpress.com/2025/07/04/peru-2025-santa-eulalia/ https://naturenw.wordpress.com/2025/07/05/peru-2025-villa-marshes-pucusana-lachay/ Scott Ramos Seattle -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 19 16:13:35 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jim Betz via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 19 16:13:42 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Best of the year In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charlotte and Bill, ? Wonderful pictures - all good and many Outstanding.? - Jim in Skagit From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 19 17:18:33 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 19 17:18:40 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Bird-and-Word Quiz In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <74EAC835-2561-4318-AEF4-4C265F0956C1@comcast.net> Rachel, thanks to you and Joseph for a great gift to a bunch of bird nerds, although I noticed you didn?t put a birder on a girder. What a wonderful idea you had, and I hope it will stimulate all who see it to think of other examples. That is, if there are any; I think you used the vast majority in your creativeness. I?m forwarding your message to as many people I can think of who aren?t part of the tweeters assemblage. Happy holidays to all! Dennis Paulson Seattle dennispaulson at comcast dot net > On Dec 19, 2025, at 12:55?PM, Rachel Lawson via Tweeters wrote: > > Hello Tweets, > > Earlier this week, our dear friend Elaine Chuang, who you all know because of her generous work for our birding community, including keeping Tweeters running, sent us a little bird quiz. Her quiz was based on the children's book The Elf on the Shelf by Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell that begins with the question "You've heard of an elf on a shelf, but what about...?", followed by depictions of pairs of words for the reader to guess. Elaine sent us a few bird-related pairs of her own, including pictures of "a finch on a Grinch" and a "coot on a boot". We enjoy wordplay, so we started thinking up more pairs of birds and words and illustrating them with images we created using AI. Well, we got a bit carried away, and now that we have over 100 images, we have decided to share them with you. > > Please note, this is a silly bird quiz, not an ornithology textbook. The birds are recognizable, but not all have the correct field marks of particular species. Strangely, the program we used has trouble with numbers of toes, and we got tired of correcting it. Please excuse these and other little inaccuracies and biological improbabilities. > > Here?s the quiz: https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/0754c7cacc114ca78563978ebaecf6b5 > > Many thanks to Elaine for the original idea, to birding friends Douglas Marshall and Jeff Hopkins and our sister Sue Brooks, and niece Rebekah Brooks for contributing some birds and words, and to Dennis Paulson for his suggestions to improve the images. Maybe later, bird and word lover Blair Bernson will share his elaborations on the wordplay. > > This quiz is our parting holiday gift to the Tweeters community, as we leave the Pacific Northwest for Northwest England. We will miss you. > > Rachel Lawson and Joseph Brown > Seattle > rwlawson5593@outlook.com > > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 19 18:07:22 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Denis DeSilvis via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 19 18:07:27 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM) Eagle's Pride Golf Course (GC) monthly bird walk - 12-19-2025 Message-ID: Tweeters, Five of us waded through the rain-soaked fairways and roughs at the JBLM Eagle's Pride GC on Thursday, with the rain bucketing down most of the time and the temperature not changing much from the 43degF at the start. Many of the golf holes had new water hazards, some even on the greens! Because of the downpour and paucity of bird species, we curtailed our usual route by about half - the first time we've done that since we started this birdwalk in 2013. Significantly, we had very few forest birds - not even a calling Red-breasted Nuthatch, which was very surprising since this species is a regular. We did, however, garner some waterfowl at Hodge Lake - birds that we didn't have any of at that site last month. The JBLM Eagle's Pride GC birders meet the third Thursday of each month at 9:00AM from November to February. (Meeting time is 8:00AM March-October.) The starting point is the Driving Range building, Eagle's Pride Golf Course, I-5 Exit 116, Mounts Road Exit. (Turn left immediately after entering the parking lot to take the road leading to the driving range building.) Upcoming walks include the following: * January 15 * February 19 * March 19 Everyone is welcome to join us. >From the eBirdPNW report: 15 species Canada Goose 2 Northern Shoveler 2 Hodge Lake. American Wigeon 8 Four at the 9th hole pond and 4 at Hodge Lake. Mallard 2 Hodge Lake. Ring-necked Duck 1 Maintenance pond. Bufflehead 18 Two at the 9th hole pond, 1 at the maintenance pond, and 15 at Hodge Lake. Hooded Merganser 2 Hodge Lake. Mourning Dove 5 Steller's Jay 1 California Scrub-Jay 1 American Crow 150 Pacific Wren 4 American Robin 1 Dark-eyed Junco 6 Song Sparrow 8 View this checklist online at https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Febird.org%2Fchecklist%2FS289252013&data=05%7C02%7C%7C30a862fe0db84d95c9ff08de3f6a50df%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639017923010385405%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=d516H3WnWhTfqmPnjbBq%2F%2F28ek0av9eT9febY4uHTNw%3D&reserved=0 May all your birds be identified, Denis Denis DeSilvis Avnacrs 4 birds at outlook dot com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 19 19:25:46 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Tom Benedict via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 19 19:26:00 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Bird-and-Word Quiz In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <5A683064-22B4-4F0F-877B-A997C0793833@comcast.net> What fun! I especially liked that the species appear to be drawn from both nearctic and palearctic realms, with a few others from southern hemisphere. Grebe on a plebe! Indeed! Tom Benedict > On Dec 19, 2025, at 12:55, Rachel Lawson via Tweeters wrote: > > Hello Tweets, > > Earlier this week, our dear friend Elaine Chuang, who you all know because of her generous work for our birding community, including keeping Tweeters running, sent us a little bird quiz. Her quiz was based on the children's book The Elf on the Shelf by Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell that begins with the question "You've heard of an elf on a shelf, but what about...?", followed by depictions of pairs of words for the reader to guess. Elaine sent us a few bird-related pairs of her own, including pictures of "a finch on a Grinch" and a "coot on a boot". We enjoy wordplay, so we started thinking up more pairs of birds and words and illustrating them with images we created using AI. Well, we got a bit carried away, and now that we have over 100 images, we have decided to share them with you. > > Please note, this is a silly bird quiz, not an ornithology textbook. The birds are recognizable, but not all have the correct field marks of particular species. Strangely, the program we used has trouble with numbers of toes, and we got tired of correcting it. Please excuse these and other little inaccuracies and biological improbabilities. > > Here?s the quiz: https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/0754c7cacc114ca78563978ebaecf6b5 > > Many thanks to Elaine for the original idea, to birding friends Douglas Marshall and Jeff Hopkins and our sister Sue Brooks, and niece Rebekah Brooks for contributing some birds and words, and to Dennis Paulson for his suggestions to improve the images. Maybe later, bird and word lover Blair Bernson will share his elaborations on the wordplay. > > This quiz is our parting holiday gift to the Tweeters community, as we leave the Pacific Northwest for Northwest England. We will miss you. > > Rachel Lawson and Joseph Brown > Seattle > rwlawson5593@outlook.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 19 20:24:17 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dan McDougall-Treacy via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 19 20:24:30 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Bird-and-Word Quiz In-Reply-To: <5A683064-22B4-4F0F-877B-A997C0793833@comcast.net> References: <5A683064-22B4-4F0F-877B-A997C0793833@comcast.net> Message-ID: <33C5AB86-7989-4D95-A02E-0793DE6AC567@gmail.com> Loved the Bustard on custard Dan McDougall-Treacy > On Dec 19, 2025, at 7:26?PM, Tom Benedict via Tweeters wrote: > > ?What fun! > > I especially liked that the species appear to be drawn from both nearctic and palearctic realms, with a few others from southern hemisphere. > > Grebe on a plebe! Indeed! > > Tom Benedict > >> On Dec 19, 2025, at 12:55, Rachel Lawson via Tweeters wrote: >> >> Hello Tweets, >> >> Earlier this week, our dear friend Elaine Chuang, who you all know because of her generous work for our birding community, including keeping Tweeters running, sent us a little bird quiz. Her quiz was based on the children's book The Elf on the Shelf by Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell that begins with the question "You've heard of an elf on a shelf, but what about...?", followed by depictions of pairs of words for the reader to guess. Elaine sent us a few bird-related pairs of her own, including pictures of "a finch on a Grinch" and a "coot on a boot". We enjoy wordplay, so we started thinking up more pairs of birds and words and illustrating them with images we created using AI. Well, we got a bit carried away, and now that we have over 100 images, we have decided to share them with you. >> >> Please note, this is a silly bird quiz, not an ornithology textbook. The birds are recognizable, but not all have the correct field marks of particular species. Strangely, the program we used has trouble with numbers of toes, and we got tired of correcting it. Please excuse these and other little inaccuracies and biological improbabilities. >> >> Here?s the quiz: https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/0754c7cacc114ca78563978ebaecf6b5 >> >> Many thanks to Elaine for the original idea, to birding friends Douglas Marshall and Jeff Hopkins and our sister Sue Brooks, and niece Rebekah Brooks for contributing some birds and words, and to Dennis Paulson for his suggestions to improve the images. Maybe later, bird and word lover Blair Bernson will share his elaborations on the wordplay. >> >> This quiz is our parting holiday gift to the Tweeters community, as we leave the Pacific Northwest for Northwest England. We will miss you. >> >> Rachel Lawson and Joseph Brown >> Seattle >> rwlawson5593@outlook.com > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 20 06:24:24 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (JUDITH R TAYLOR via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 20 06:24:38 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Request for ID help with "odd-appearing" duck Message-ID: Friday (19th Dec) at the James T. Slaven Conservation Area (Spokane County) I spotted an odd looking duck being trailed by a male Mallard. The odd one doesn't look like a Mallard, especially the bill - at least, not to me. However, it was quite a distance away - on the far side of the main pond as viewed from the Redwing Trail - so the photos I took are not great, but I hope someone might be able to help me identify this oddity. Is it a partially leucistic Gadwall or something else? The face (especially in one of the photos) reminds me of Long-tailed Duck, a species that would be out of place in this location. However, they do show up inland now and then. I listed it as "duck sp." on ebird and included several photos. Here is the checklist url: https://ebird.org/checklist/S289246687 If anyone can help me make a positive ID, I will change the listing. Judy Rowe Taylor Spokane, WA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 20 08:19:42 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jim Betz via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 20 08:19:48 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Bird Brains In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi, ? Recently I've been speculating (again) on the topic of "how smart are birds" ... and this morning I saw this on youtube and it seems to corroborate my general conclusion that "birds are a LOT smarter than we've traditionally considered them to be". ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlnioeAtloY From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 20 09:17:51 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jim Betz via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 20 09:17:55 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Bird Brains In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <10df0be1-c370-4f94-a08a-26fab617d8c9@jimbetz.com> ? My apologies to all for the mistake I made when sending this info to friends and family and not deleting Tweeters.? Mea culpa. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jim in Skagit On 12/20/2025 8:19 AM, Jim Betz wrote: > Hi, > ? Recently I've been speculating (again) on the topic of "how smart are > birds" ... and this morning I saw this on youtube and it seems to > corroborate my general conclusion that "birds are a LOT smarter > than we've traditionally considered them to be". > > ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlnioeAtloY -- Jim on Laptop From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 20 12:49:11 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Marcia Ian via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 20 12:49:29 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Bird brains video Message-ID: <6098315F-3929-403D-AE6C-C51BA270145D@icloud.com> Wow, that was fantastic. Thank you, Jim Betz! Marcia Ian Bellingham From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 20 12:49:34 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Ellen Blackstone via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 20 12:49:51 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] bird-and-word quiz Message-ID: Whew, THIS could be addictive! Thanks, Rachel. I am not seeing a Lammergeier on a Cammermeyer. I will set to work on a visual now. Cheers, All! Ellen Blackstone Edmonds WA ellenblackstone AT gmail DOT COM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 20 12:50:39 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Kersti Muul via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 20 12:50:53 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Nisqually Barn Owls Message-ID: Unfortunately the two tested positive for HPAI (bird flu) -was their COD. -Kersti -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 20 12:56:12 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Rachel Lawson via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 20 12:56:16 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] bird-and-word quiz In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Now THAT one is an amazing rhyme! Rachel and Joseph Get Outlook for iOS ________________________________ From: Tweeters on behalf of Ellen Blackstone via Tweeters Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2025 12:49:34 PM To: Tweeters Newsgroup Subject: [Tweeters] bird-and-word quiz Whew, THIS could be addictive! Thanks, Rachel. I am not seeing a Lammergeier on a Cammermeyer. I will set to work on a visual now. Cheers, All! Ellen Blackstone Edmonds WA ellenblackstone AT gmail DOT COM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 20 13:33:47 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Pat Britain via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 20 13:33:51 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Winter Hawk Watching Classes coming soon! In-Reply-To: <7F68F15E-0CBF-4B8B-A91E-D01AA393E8D4@gmail.com> References: <7F68F15E-0CBF-4B8B-A91E-D01AA393E8D4@gmail.com> Message-ID: <05d501dc71f8$5385d4a0$fa917de0$@northstarllc.com> For all you raptor enthusiasts, now?s the time to brush up on your raptor identification skills and increase your raptor knowledge. Sue Cottrell will be teaching her 5-week class once again. Her class will teach you about the 15 regularly occurring species of hawks, eagles, harriers, falcons, and vultures that regularly occur in Western Washington. She will cover how to identify them, where to find them, when they are here, why they are here, how they make a living, and what you need to observe them. There will be two classes, an in-person class at Padilla Bay Interpretive center starts January 6 at 7 pm and includes an all day field trip, cost is $175. The second class will be via zoom and starts January 7 at 7 pm and cost is $100. Space may be available on a field trip for an additional fee. Visit Sue?s website, www.raptorstudiesnw.org to find out more about Sue and the classes and how to register. If you have a specific question you can email her at raptorstudiesnw@gmail.com Pat Britain From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 20 20:12:02 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jim Elder via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 20 20:12:08 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Satsop CBC In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I tried this yesterday but here is trying again: Hopefully Liam will answer directly if he hasn't already but my understanding from him is: CORRECTION: CBC is scheduled for December 28, a sunday. Not December 29 which I originally said, which is a Monday I won't be surprised if large parts of my sector are under water but if anyone has been there recently I would love to know Jim Elder, Seattle (jimelder at Meteorcomm dot com) In reply to Roger Moyer who wrote: Message: 2 Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2025 01:48:50 +0000 From: Roger Moyer via Tweeters To: "tweeters@u.washington.edu" Subject: [Tweeters] Satsop CBC Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I'm seeking clairfication on the date for the Satsop CBC. My email from the leader says its on Saturday, December 29. However Saturday is on the 27th. So I'm unsure which date is correct. Roger Moyer Chehalis, WA From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 20 21:48:43 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Tom and Carol Stoner via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 20 21:49:12 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Bird on a Word Message-ID: A fine game! Thank you Rachel and Joseph! Carol Stoner West Seattle -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 21 03:52:57 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dan Reiff via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 21 03:59:31 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] =?utf-8?q?This_was_surprisingly=3A_=E2=80=9CThis_Bat_R?= =?utf-8?q?ecorded_Itself_Catching_and_Eating_a_Songbird_in_Midair?= =?utf-8?q?=E2=80=9D__=7C_Scientific_American?= References: <6C80322B-8A4F-4702-B976-C4C8CCA5ADC8@gmail.com> Message-ID: Tweeters, This was surprisingly. Dan Reiff, PhD Subject: This Bat Recorded Itself Catching and Eating a Songbird in Midair | Scientific American > > ? > https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-bat-recorded-itself-catching-and-eating-a-songbird-in-midair/ > > Sent from my iPhone -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 21 04:21:53 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dan Reiff via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 21 04:21:58 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] This Chilling Recording Reveals Large Bats Catching, Killing and Eating Birds Midflight Message-ID: <88ED56BD-9E57-47B4-BED4-77C2F0017697@gmail.com> Hello Tweeters, An interesting and great piece of research. Please note that the scientist?s description of what was audio recorded may be disturbing to some people. Here?s another link to this article and research: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-chilling-audio-reveals-that-these-large-bats-catch-kill-and-eat-birds-mid-flight-180987497/ Sent from my iPhone From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 21 11:18:42 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 21 11:18:45 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] =?utf-8?q?WOS_Monthly_Meeting=2C_January_5=2C_2026_=28?= =?utf-8?q?on-line_only=29_=2E=2E=2E_note_Jan_26_also?= Message-ID: <20251221191842.1180301.qmail@s401.sureserver.com> The Washington Ornithological Society (WOS) is pleased to announce our next Monthly Meeting: on Monday, January 5, 2026, Phil Mitchell will present, "Learning to be a Better Birder in the Age of AI.? Today, with a suite of AI-powered apps such as Merlin and iNaturalist, we are quickly able to identify birds, plants and other animals. Online or in-person courses may enhance our knowledge about sparrows, shorebirds and hawks. But what does it take to actually learn and retain the knowledge that enriches our birding? This talk will be an intro to the science of learning as it applies to becoming a better birder, along with a survey of the related birding apps. Phil Mitchell has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and is a Seattle resident and avid naturalist. He combines academic research on how best to learn, with his 20+ years? experience as a software developer to create learning apps. He is the founder and learning expert for the app ?Larkwire.? Introduced in 2012, Larkwire helps birders learn sounds, visual ID and bird topography. This meeting will be conducted virtually, via Zoom (no in-person attendance). Sign-in will begin at 7:15 pm, and the meeting commences at 7:30 pm. Please go to the WOS Monthly Meetings page: https://wos.org/monthly-meetings/ for instructions on participation and to get the Zoom link. When joining the meeting, we ask that you mute your device and make certain that your camera is turned off. This meeting is open to all as WOS invites everyone in the wider birding community to attend. Thanks to the generosity of our presenters, recordings of past programs are available at the following link to the WOS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@washingtonornithologicalso7839/videos If you are not yet a member of WOS, we hope you will consider becoming one at https://wos.org Please join us! SPECIAL NOTE: Due to a date conflict, the February 2026 Monthly Meeting will take place one week earlier, on January 26. Please mark your calendars. Elaine Chuang WOS Program Support From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 21 12:48:19 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Louise via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 21 12:48:32 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Takahe Message-ID: Sometimes every bird matters. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/21/takahe-chick-rare-born-new-zealand Louise Rutter Kirkland -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 21 14:15:34 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (ck park via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 21 14:16:14 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] the most expensive titanic cargo Message-ID: might not be what most people think at first guess... https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mSB5a3Q5Pws courtesy of Minute Earth... 00 caren george davis creek, north fork -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 21 17:21:30 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Joel Levin via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 21 17:21:37 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] bird palaces Message-ID: <373e6e09-8e3b-460c-ac68-d7dc9d6991ad@comcast.net> Not just a birdhouse! Turkey's ornate Ottoman-era 'bird palaces' https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20251217-turkeys-ornate-ottoman-era-bird-palaces --Joel -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 21 18:04:43 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Teri Martine via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 21 18:05:00 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Noah Stryker's new project Message-ID: <6DB1DA00-E854-40FF-AFE5-5288DE072E4B@me.com> Of interest, forwarding an item from Oregon?s listserv OBOL ? Teri Martine Seattle Oregon Date: 12/20 5:23 PM From: Jay Withgott Subject: [obol] Noah Strycker's bold new project for 2026 Well, I?ve just learned that Noah Strycker is at it again. As if setting a record for the most birds seen across the planet Earth in a calendar year and then writing a book about it ? on top of writing five other books over the years ? was not enough ? for the year 2026 he has an intriguing new project up his sleeve. Check out: www.LettersFromNoah.com Once again our colleague from Creswell will be setting off from Oregon to travel the world, and writing and sketching about the birds, people, and places he encounters. Only this time, you can subscribe to receive snail-mail letters from him as he travels the globe. In our hyper-online era, this strikes me as a welcome throwback to the age of old-timey written correspondence. Like if Alexander von Humboldt had had a digital printer and you were on his mailing list. I?ll probably sign up and give a gift subscription or two, and just wanted to help get the word out. Happy Solstice, everyone! Jay Withgott Portland -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 22 17:31:29 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Judith A. Howard via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 22 17:31:33 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Zealandia Message-ID: I loved Louise?s post about Zealandia and the takahe chick that has just been announced. We visited Zealandia last month and found it to be an utterly magical place. We did not see the takahe, but did hear the morepork, the only native owl in New Zealand, and we also heard two kiwis. Before it became dark on our nighttime walk, we saw a number of tuis, several varieties of shags, a saddleback, and other truly wondrous birds. As the article mentioned, the creation of this eco-sanctuary has led to a bird-life boom in Wellington. For any of you who might be visiting New Zealand, this is a must-see place. Thanks for sharing this, Louise! Judy Howard -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 22 21:39:24 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Rachel Lawson via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 22 21:39:28 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Final version of our bird-and-word quiz Message-ID: Dear Tweets, Here is the final version of our very silly bird-and-word quiz. We improved a few images and added a few, and now we are done. We will post an answer key soon. Have fun, and come visit us in Arnside, England! Rachel Lawson and Joseph Brown Rwlawson5593@outlook.com Bird Quiz -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 22 22:31:57 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Rachel Lawson via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 22 22:32:02 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Answers to Bird-and-Word quiz Message-ID: 1. Willet / skillet 2. Knot / pot 3. Grouse / mouse 4. Raven / maven 5. Flicker / vicar 6. Chough / muff 7. Linnet / spinet 8. Swift / gift 9. Drongo / bongo 10. Weaver / beaver 11. Kea / rhea 12. Vulture / sculpture 13. Eagle / beagle 14. Crow / toe 15. Rook / book 16. Robin / bobbin 17. Smew / Jew 18. Creeper / reaper 19. Finch / Grinch 20. Loon / spoon 21. Kestrel / thestral 22. Tern / fern 23. Stork / fork 24. Wren / pen 25. Crane / cane 26. Gannet / planet 27. Tui / buoy 28. Parrot / carrot 29. Puffin / muffin 30. Shag / flag 31. Gull / skull 32. Eider / spider 33. Scoter / boater 34. Kite / light 35. Jay / tray 36. Tit / mitt 37. Owl / trowel 38. Thrush / brush 39. Potoo / shoe 40. Sparrow / arrow 41. Goose / moose 42. Prion / lion 43. Harrier / barrier 44. Teal / wheel 45. Prinia / zinnia 46. Chat / cat 47. Dowitcher / howitzer 48. Dove / glove 49. Swan / lawn 50. Lark / ark 51. Batis / lattice 52. Reedling / seedling 53. Lory / dory 54. Cock-of-the Rock / wok 55. Guan / fawn 56. Stint / mint 57. Heron / baron 58. Booby / ruby 59. Tody / rhody 60. Munia / petunia 61. Pipit / whippet 62. Duck / truck 63. Phoebe / Seabee 64. Plover / clover 65. Whimbrel / timbrel 66. Manakin / pannikin 67. Skimmer / swimmer 68. Thrasher / rasher 69. Dodo / Frodo 70. I?iwi / kiwi 71. Shama / llama 72. Miner / diner 73. Bluebill/ /Shoebill 74. Grackle / tackle 75. Swallow / hollow 76. Kaka / paca 77. Bustard / custard 78. Rail / bale 79. Snipe / pipe 80. Tanager / manager 81. Coot / boot 82. Wigeon / pigeon 83. Kinglet / singlet 84. Dipper / slipper 85. Bittern / kitten 86. Hobby / bobby 87. Diver / fiver 88. Twite / kite 89. Quail / pail 90. Grebe / plebe 91. Macaw / saw 92. Torgon / shogun 93. Shrike / bike 94. Quetzal / pretzel 95. Crossbill / drill 96. Dickcissel / thistle 97. Bluethroat / stoat 98. Crake / lake 99. Stilt / quilt 100. Hermit / permit 101. Becard / record 102. Rubythroat / mountain goat 103. Redhead / bedstead 104. Birders / girder 105. Rosella / patella 106. Tattler / rattler 107. Doradito / burrito 108. Francolin / pangolin 109. Grandala / mandala 110. Darter / charter 111. Screamer / Beemer 112. Moa / boa 113. Roller / stroller 114. Motmot / hotpot 115. Mandanga / chimichanga Rachel and Joseph rwlawson5593@outlook.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 23 08:30:08 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (B B via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 23 08:30:51 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Discounted Tour to Thailand with Field Guides References: <1642833422.1981847.1766507408697.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1642833422.1981847.1766507408697@mail.yahoo.com> I am scheduled to go on a wonderful Birding Tour to Thailand with Field Guides that begins on January 10 and ends on January 31, 2026.? I have wanted to go on this tour for many years but some personal issues are? ?most likely going to prevent me from going.? It is fully paid - with a single supplement - total over $8500 including early arrival night.? It is too late to cancel and receive a refund so I am hoping to find someone who can take my place at a large discount.?This is a chance to visit this bird and culture rich country at a bargain price Here is the link to the tour.??https://fieldguides.com/bird-tours/thailand/ Please contact me offsite if you are interested or know of someone who might be.? I have flights scheduled from Seattle with Japan Airlines and may be able to transfer to you at a discount as well. Thank you. Blair Bernson birder four one eight four at yahoo dot com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 23 11:49:36 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 23 11:49:42 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Birds of Grant County Message-ID: <1766519376.snmoczh4kkwcowok@webmail.sitestar.net> We are nearing the end of the 2025 year. I am the compiler for the Grant County Yearly list. We are missing a few birds that are sometimes seen within the county. Not everyone uses eBird so I am reaching out to see if anyone has seen these birds in Grant County in 2025. Short-billed Dowitcher White-winged Scoter Arctic Tern Red-throated Loon Gyrfalcon Harris' Sparrow If you've seen these birds please email me or reply to this thread Thanks Doug Schonewald -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 23 15:11:25 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Tim Brennan via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 23 15:11:30 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Walla Walla and Columbia County 2025 Message-ID: Hey y'all! Just officially calling it a wrap on my year in the southeast corner of the state - birding Walla Walla and Columbia Counties. There are reasons that some of those counties down there are underbirded... it's been quite a long haul!! So, December will have me on the Wet Side of the state for a Christmas Bird Count, and then in 2026... Pacific County! I'm overdue for picking a single county and focusing on it. Should be a lot of fun! May the new year bring everyone some amazing new birds! Cheers, Tim Brennan Renton -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 24 13:34:00 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (SeaKeithRUn via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 24 13:34:15 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Baja Birding Message-ID: <902702D0-79C2-4EEE-A1EE-7571C9844B66@gmail.com> Folks: Any suggestions on Baja Birding would be greatly appreciated ? places, books, guides etc. Thanks, Keith Unterschute -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 24 14:16:00 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dianna Moore via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 24 14:16:16 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Grays Harbor CBC Message-ID: Hello all...just a reminder that the GH CBC will be held on Saturday, Jan 3rd. For those who have already contacted me about participating, Thank You! I could use some help covering the areas but had a computer "glitch" and lost some names and contacts. I haven't heard from those covering Westport (Area 10), and Area 9..which includes Bottle Beach SP and John's River WA. For those who have contacted me, Mentioned in the WOS listing that a post-count party will be held at the Westside Pizza in Aberdeen, at 1420 Sumner Ave (Hwy101 west-bound). If you can't make it send results directly to me at osdlm1945@gmail.com or to my phone at 360-590-1395. I'm hoping the rain will give us a break! Tides are a low of 4.1 at 5:56am and a high of 11.8 (!!!) at 12:02pm for the coast and about 20 min later for Hoquiam and Aberdeen locations. This count will be an important one due to the recent talk about birds just not showing up in "normal" numbers. This is important research that the various citizen science efforts can help to clarify, so please help if you can. Feel free to contact me with any further questions, and Thank You, as always! Dianna Moore -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 24 21:52:34 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Rachel Lawson via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 24 21:55:13 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] For those who are not tired of the silly quiz yet In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: We thought we were finished, but we just keep adding more birds and words. The answer key is attached https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/0754c7cacc114ca78563978ebaecf6b5 Happy holidays from Rachel and Joseph rwlawson5593@outlook.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Bird Quiz Key.2025.1224.docx Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document Size: 17636 bytes Desc: Bird Quiz Key.2025.1224.docx URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Thu Dec 25 18:25:59 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Bob Boekelheide via Tweeters) Date: Thu Dec 25 18:26:16 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Preliminary Sequim-Dungeness CBC results Message-ID: <2766DE25-B031-4F82-8682-56BE2AC798B3@olympus.net> Hello Tweeters, The 50th Sequim-Dungeness CBC, held on Dec 15, 2025, and bookended by atmospheric rivers, turned out calm and dry for most of count day. Overnight rain and winds calmed to broken overcast and unseasonably warm temperatures between dawn and mid-afternoon. The overnight low of 42 degrees F rose to an afternoon high of 63 degrees F, probably the warmest SDCBC ever. A nasty squall in the afternoon brought strong winds and sideways rain, then skies cleared for starry owling in the Olympic foothills after dark. Our 116 observers and 14 backyard birders tallied 52,410 birds of 147 species, along with five count-week species. The total number of 52,410 birds is lower than the 30-year average of about 62,000 birds, and the lowest since 2012. Conversely, the species total of 147 is four species higher than the 30-year SDCBC average of 143 species, and only seven below the SDCBC all-time record of 154 species set in 2015. The most abundant species, as usual, was American Wigeon (9830 individuals), followed by Mallard (5092), Dunlin (2874), American Robin (2438), Dark-eyed Junco (2172), Red-winged Blackbird (1984), Bufflehead (1764), Glaucous-winged/Olympic Gull (1756), European Starling (1173), and American Crow (1108). These ten species made up well over half of all the birds we tallied, the heart of the winter avifauna around Sequim and Dungeness. Nine species set or tied all-time record high counts for the 50-years of the SDCBC: Sora, Long-billed Dowitcher, Mourning Dove, Barn Owl, Barred Owl, Northern Flicker, Pacific Wren, Lapland Longspur, and Orange-crowned Warbler. I?m most impressed by the Mourning Doves, whose flocks have been noticeably visible this winter around Sequim and Dungeness. The high number of Barn Owls is partly due to homeowners installing and monitoring nest boxes, showing that Barn Owl pairs faithfully occupy their nest sites here through the winter. Other species scoring higher counts included Long-tailed Duck (highest since 2013), Red-necked Grebe (highest since 1993), Sharp-shinned Hawk (highest since 2006), Eurasian Collared-Dove (highest since 2015), Merlin (3rd highest ever), Bewick?s Wren (2nd highest), and Red-winged Blackbird (2nd highest). Species scoring lower than usual counts included Trumpeter Swan (lowest since 2007), American Coot (3rd lowest), Black Turnstone (lowest since 2012), Ancient Murrelet (lowest since 1996), Pacific Loon (lowest since 2007), Western Grebe (lowest ever, only one bird), Red-tailed Hawk (lowest since 2002), Peregrine Falcon (2nd lowest for the last 30 years), Varied Thrush (lowest since 1995), and European Starling (lowest since 1981). Count-week species included Snow Goose, Redhead, Red Knot, Iceland (Thayer?s) Gull, and Short-eared Owl. These species were probably out there somewhere on count day, but we missed them. Noteworthy species included the first Sooty Grouse since 2015 found by our US Forest Service party in the Olympic foothills; three Yellow-billed Loons spotted by the offshore boat party; five Short-tailed Shearwaters that sailed past Dungeness during the afternoon squall; one Turkey Vulture soaring by Bell Hill; two Semipalmated Plovers foraging with other shorebirds in Dungeness Bay; the amazing Lesser Black-backed Gull here for at least its fifth straight winter at Washington Harbor; three Barn Swallows and two American Tree Sparrows found at Jamestown; and five Lapland Longspurs together on Dungeness Spit. Many many thanks to all our participants, particularly those who traveled long distances to join the count. Thanks to the property owners who allowed counters access, and to Durkee Richards, our wonderful offshore boat skipper. I?m especially thankful to the stalwart counters who covered foothill areas south of Hwy 101, who work extra hard and cover long distances to find birds like grouse, Canada Jays, crossbills, and Evening Grosbeaks. A full accounting and complete count results will be in the January Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society newsletter. Thank you all! Bob Boekelheide Dungeness From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 26 09:46:02 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jim Betz via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 26 09:46:06 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Bird Brains - Revisited In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <8a29aeb8-d2e4-43bb-a184-4be7de81304e@jimbetz.com> Hi again, ? I've been mulling this topic over - pretty much continuously since I was re-invigorated by the youtube video I posted previously.? So what I'm thinking now is that bird behavior is a curious/fascinating mix of both instinctual and situational thinking. ? On the instinctual side are things such as migration and courting - but I'm thinking it is primarily related to those behaviors on a 'grand (global?) scale. For instance - whether or not a particular species migrates - or doesn't ... etc. ? But, there is considerable situational thinking with respect to when the bird migrates or an individual bird's courting dance. ? We've often heard that most bird behavior is related to 1) availability of food, 2) sex, and 3) territory.? While I agree with that - I also recognize that there is a lot of situational thinking ... for example, the trumpeter swans leave whereever they spent the night and come to the fields we look out over ... but they don't simply 'return to the same field they were at yesterday' - they seem to select where they will land as they are flying in.? Do they "see" the potatoes or do they "smell" them?? There is considerable variation in which field will be used on any given day.? But they also don't go to one particular field (that they were at yesterday) and pick somewhere else "today" ... and then return to that prior field a few days later.? There is -some- movement in the middle of the day ... but primarily if they choose a field they are there the entire day.? Some small percentage of birds will leave an individual field in the late morning - and some move to that same field in the same time frame ... so there are choices being made and individual birds (or small groups) are choosing to move. ? There ae similar behaviors for other bird species - but always with a certain number of individual birds making their own "situational" choices in any given day. ? I'm a birding photographer.? One thing that is apparent to me is that individual birds of the same species can have huge differences in terms of how they tolerate (or don't) humans near them.? Some birds will fly off much sooner than others.? Some even seem to pretty much ignore the presence of humans - witness the Short-eared Owls at the East 90 which almost seem to not care about the photogs crowding very close to them to get that 'perfect' shot.? Sometimes. ? From where I'm standing - it seems like a huge part of this phenomenon is our (humans) tendency to try to overlay Human intelligence/behavior on other species.? I often hear people explaining bird behavior based upon how a human would think/behave ... rather than simply observing and describing the behavior(s) - and trying to see patterns in the way the birds they see are behaving that are repeated over and over again. And then, after considerable different observations have been made ... making "sense" out of it. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?- Jim in Skagit From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 26 12:05:48 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Kenneth Brown via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 26 12:05:55 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Nisqually Wednesday in December Message-ID: <176629278.33576.1766779548072@connect.xfinity.com> 'Twas the day before Christmas. The newly declared federal holiday meant the Refuge staff had the day off. Many of the usual suspects took a pass on the walk, possibly in anticipation of bad weather or holiday obligations. A small group ( 9 to start, 12 total) gathered this cool and cloudy morning. Birding started slow, a lone Bufflehead on the pond, overhead, American crows flew west, as we entered the play area, a Red-tailed Hawk followed a similar path. Three Common Mergansers flew south. In a bare tree near the Land Trust building, a Red-breasted Sapsucker. tended its neat rows of bark cavities shadowed by an Anna's Hummingbird checking behind, hoping to benefit from the Sapsucker's labor. In the "Forbidden Pond" west of the entrance road, a drake Eurasian Wigeon was escorted by a half dozen American Wigeon and two Mallards. Golden-crowned Sparrows and a Spotted Towhee worked the leaf litter on the east side of the entrance road, a pair of Downy Woodpecker were busy in a Cottonwood tree near the intersection with the service road. Mallards , Wigeon, and Northern Shovelers slowly meandered the flooded field south of the bend in the service road In the brush west of the north parking lot were Black-capped Chickadees, a Spotted Towhee, and Golden-crowned Kinglets. A Great Blue Heron stood sentry on the road bisecting the field, ignoring the American Robins and Northern Flickers between itself and us. To the south, the pond held more of the same ducks, on the north side a male Red-winged Blackbird watched the same three Tundra Swans seen last week, a few American Coots, and more ducks. Along the trail on the west side of the pond a couple Pied-billed Grebes and a Marsh Wren first caught our attention, a Virginia Rail called, Song, Golden-crowned and Fox Sparrows were in the brush on the other side, as were Bewick's, and Pacific Wrens. Several Ring-necked Ducks swam in and out of view at the grassy north end of the pond. The trail to the north was still indefinitely blocked, so back to the service road. Canada and Cackling geese held the grassy shore while the ducks, Swans, and Coots occupied the water. Light rain had been falling sporadically, now it began to increase. On the platform by the Twin Barns, while we snacked, a male American Kestrel flew in and landed on top of a owl entrance box, on the barns west side, carrying it's own snack, a small bird, species undetermined, but soon determinedly dismantled.. Some of us worried about the Kestrel's exposure to Avian Influenza, given its diet and proximity to the site of the Barn Owl's demise. Out on the dike, the rain a bit steadier, a few Bald Eagles dotted the trees along the Nisqually River. The surge plain a mix of water and exposed mud, was populated by ducks, mostly Wigeon and Green-winged Teal, and Gulls, mostly Ring-billed and Short-billed. A Northern Harrier sat on the ground, distant enough that we could not see what held it's attention. A small flock of Bushtits flitted through the short alders on the north side . As expected, once we cleared the shelter of the willows, the wind increased, the rain hit harder. Our group shrunk by half, we moved a bit quicker out to the covered platform at the start of the McAllister Creek boardwalk. The creek was sparsely dotted with Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Surf Scoters and the dark lumps of Harbor Seal heads. A smallish flock of Least Sandpipers flashed through, a few Greater Yellowlegs stalked the shore. From the gated north end a Common Loon was out off Luhr Beach, as were Red-breasted Mergansers, more Bufflehead and Surf Scoters. Brandt's Cormorants held the Channel Marker out on the reach, Double-crested Cormorants, closer in on piling and in the water. The rain had tapered off by the time we turned around to head back to the dike, a blue patch of sky visible far to the south. Back on the dike, a young Harrier perched on a snag in the freshwater marsh. In the wind shadow of the Willows a number of Golden-crowned Sparrows were accompanied by a White-crowned Sparrow and a White-throated Sparrow. At the Nisqually River overlook, the river high and muddy, though a bit less than last week, a couple Common Merganser drakes swam in the murky water. A California Sea Lion made brief appearances and large wakes on the waters surface, presumable hunting the winter run of Chum Salmon. A Harbor Seal also hunted but warily kept its distance from the much larger animal. South along the east side of the loop trail were Black-capped and Chestnut backed Chickadees, Brown Creepers, Pacific Wrens. By the time we returned to the Visitors Center the sky had mostly cleared and the weather was fine. See the checklist below: Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR, Thurston, Washington, US Dec 24, 2025 7:55 AM - 1:52 PM Protocol: Traveling 2.424 mile(s) Checklist Comments: Wednesday Walk. The walk began on a calm, Overcast, 39? F morning with a south breeze increasing to 3-8 knots and rain showers developing by noon. We finished the walk with clearing skies and temperatures to 45? F. A +14.8-foot high tide at 09:10 a.m. ebbed to a +7.3-foot high at 3:15 p.m. Mammals seen included eastern grey squirrel, Columbian Black-tailed Deer, and eastern cottontail. There were Harbor Seals in McAllister Creek, and seals and California Sea Lions hunting chum salmon in the Nisqually River. Total Time = 8 hrs 22 minutes Total Distance = 5.32 miles 60 species (+4 other taxa) Cackling Goose (minima) 830 Cackling Goose (Taverner's) 4 Canada Goose 35 Tundra Swan 3 Pen, cob, and cygnet Northern Shoveler 75 Gadwall 8 Eurasian Wigeon 1 American Wigeon 1530 Mallard 155 Northern Pintail 145 Green-winged Teal 450 Ring-necked Duck 8 Visitors' Center Pond Surf Scoter 40 McAllister Creek and Nisqually Reach Bufflehead 85 Common Goldeneye 24 McAllister Creek and Nisqually Reach Hooded Merganser 1 McAllister Creek Common Merganser 5 Three flying upriver over orchard area; 2 drakes at Nisqually River overlook Red-breasted Merganser 9 McAllister Creek and Nisqually Reach Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 21 Entrance gate Anna's Hummingbird 2 One was getting 'nectar' from sapsucker holes near the Land Trust office Virginia Rail 1 Vocalizing from visitors' center pond American Coot 9 Greater Yellowlegs 38 Least Sandpiper 32 One flock on McAllister Creek Short-billed Gull 70 Ring-billed Gull 35 Glaucous-winged Gull 2 Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 5 Western/Glaucous-winged Gull 25 Pied-billed Grebe 2 Visitors' center pond Common Loon 1 Nisqually Reach Brandt's Cormorant 11 Nisqually Reach channel marker Double-crested Cormorant 15 Great Blue Heron 13 Northern Harrier 2 Adult female & immature Bald Eagle 13 Red-tailed Hawk (calurus/alascensis) 3 Belted Kingfisher 3 Red-breasted Sapsucker 1 Land Trust pear tree Downy Woodpecker (Pacific) 4 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 4 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 3 American Kestrel 1 Carrying a small bird as prey to the twin barns American Crow 135 Black-capped Chickadee 20 Chestnut-backed Chickadee 12 Bushtit (Pacific) 6 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 7 Golden-crowned Kinglet 15 Brown Creeper 6 Pacific Wren 2 Marsh Wren 7 Bewick's Wren 2 European Starling 95 American Robin 10 Fox Sparrow (Sooty) 5 Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 1 White-crowned Sparrow (pugetensis) 1 Golden-crowned Sparrow 35 White-throated Sparrow 1 Tan striped Song Sparrow (rufina Group) 25 Spotted Towhee (oregonus Group) 8 Red-winged Blackbird 30 View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S290080197 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 26 13:18:24 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Michael Hobbs via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 26 13:18:38 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Marymoor Park (Redmond, King Co.) 2025-12-26 Message-ID: Tweets - During predawn and for the first 1.5 hours of the survey, the weather was rather pleasant. We even had some sun. Quite birdy too. After that, we had little bits of precipitation with gray clouds, and increasing wind. Still not terrible, especially for December; with temps either side of 40 degrees this morning. Floodwaters are receding, but the south end of the Dog Area and the boardwalk are still closed. Highlights: Seven species of ducks in the slough below the weir Anna's Hummingbird - gorgeous male south of the East Meadow; our first Anna's in five weeks (there is no longer a feeder at the park office) Barred Owl - Tony had one pre-dawn in the south end of the park Merlin - One along "snag row" just east of the Pea Patch Bewick's Wren - Many singing Coyote - One in the East Meadow We had some definite CACKLING GEESE today, but again no positive ID of Canadas. Several distant flyby flocks of both geese and ducks. Misses today included Canada Goose, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser, American Coot, Ring-billed Gull (the morning gull flock stayed far away from us), Cooper's Hawk, Steller's Jay, Brown Creeper, and Pine Siskin. For the day, 45 species. = Michael Hobbs = BirdMarymoor@gmail.com = www.marymoor.org/birding.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 26 13:20:48 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (rrowland via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 26 13:21:01 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] bird behavior - Jim in Skagit In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <583274464.2350370.1766784048892@mail.yahoo.com> Hi Jim, Thanks for your ruminations regarding bird behavior. I especially like that you are considering individuals and their behavior and not grouping species as a whole.Can you post the you tube video link?again, that you referenced? Robert? Hi again, ? I've been mulling this topic over - pretty much continuously since I was re-invigorated by the youtube video I posted previously.? So what I'm thinking now is that bird behavior is a curious/fascinating mix of both instinctual and situational thinking. ? On the instinctual side are things such as migration and courting - but I'm thinking it is primarily related to those behaviors on a 'grand (global?) scale. For instance - whether or not a particular species migrates - or doesn't ... etc. ? But, there is considerable situational thinking with respect to when the bird migrates or an individual bird's courting dance. ? We've often heard that most bird behavior is related to 1) availability of food, 2) sex, and 3) territory.? While I agree with that - I also recognize that there is a lot of situational thinking ... for example, the trumpeter swans leave whereever they spent the night and come to the fields we look out over ... but they don't simply 'return to the same field they were at yesterday' - they seem to select where they will land as they are flying in.? Do they "see" the potatoes or do they "smell" them?? There is considerable variation in which field will be used on any given day.? But they also don't go to one particular field (that they were at yesterday) and pick somewhere else "today" ... and then return to that prior field a few days later.? There is -some- movement in the middle of the day ... but primarily if they choose a field they are there the entire day.? Some small percentage of birds will leave an individual field in the late morning - and some move to that same field in the same time frame ... so there are choices being made and individual birds (or small groups) are choosing to move. ? There ae similar behaviors for other bird species - but always with a certain number of individual birds making their own "situational" choices in any given day. ? I'm a birding photographer.? One thing that is apparent to me is that individual birds of the same species can have huge differences in terms of how they tolerate (or don't) humans near them.? Some birds will fly off much sooner than others.? Some even seem to pretty much ignore the presence of humans - witness the Short-eared Owls at the East 90 which almost seem to not care about the photogs crowding very close to them to get that 'perfect' shot.? Sometimes. ? From where I'm standing - it seems like a huge part of this phenomenon is our (humans) tendency to try to overlay Human intelligence/behavior on other species.? I often hear people explaining bird behavior based upon how a human would think/behave ... rather than simply observing and describing the behavior(s) - and trying to see patterns in the way the birds they see are behaving that are repeated over and over again. And then, after considerable different observations have been made ... making "sense" out of it. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?- Jim in Skagit _______________________________________________ Tweeters mailing list Tweeters@mailman11.u.washington.edu http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 26 13:26:35 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 26 13:26:40 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Bird Brains - Revisited In-Reply-To: <8a29aeb8-d2e4-43bb-a184-4be7de81304e@jimbetz.com> References: <8a29aeb8-d2e4-43bb-a184-4be7de81304e@jimbetz.com> Message-ID: <13267A35-697F-49BE-B62F-D262559E056F@comcast.net> Jim, Thanks for the good thoughts. I always hope that birders spend time watching bird behavior, which indeed can be individual, just as in people. They probably are hardwired to do many of the things they do, but there is plenty of latitude for making their own decisions. Dennis Paulson Seattle dennispaulson at comcast dot net > On Dec 26, 2025, at 9:46 AM, Jim Betz via Tweeters wrote: > > Hi again, > > I've been mulling this topic over - pretty much continuously since I was > re-invigorated by the youtube video I posted previously. So what I'm > thinking now is that bird behavior is a curious/fascinating mix of both > instinctual and situational thinking. > > On the instinctual side are things such as migration and courting - but I'm > thinking it is primarily related to those behaviors on a 'grand (global?) scale. > For instance - whether or not a particular species migrates - or doesn't ... etc. > But, there is considerable situational thinking with respect to when the > bird migrates or an individual bird's courting dance. > > We've often heard that most bird behavior is related to 1) availability of food, > 2) sex, and 3) territory. While I agree with that - I also recognize that there is a > lot of situational thinking ... for example, the trumpeter swans leave whereever > they spent the night and come to the fields we look out over ... but they don't > simply 'return to the same field they were at yesterday' - they seem to select > where they will land as they are flying in. Do they "see" the potatoes or do > they "smell" them? There is considerable variation in which field will be used > on any given day. But they also don't go to one particular field (that they were > at yesterday) and pick somewhere else "today" ... and then return to that > prior field a few days later. There is -some- movement in the middle of the > day ... but primarily if they choose a field they are there the entire day. Some > small percentage of birds will leave an individual field in the late morning - and > some move to that same field in the same time frame ... so there are choices > being made and individual birds (or small groups) are choosing to move. > There ae similar behaviors for other bird species - but always with a certain > number of individual birds making their own "situational" choices in any > given day. > > I'm a birding photographer. One thing that is apparent to me is that > individual birds of the same species can have huge differences in terms > of how they tolerate (or don't) humans near them. Some birds will > fly off much sooner than others. Some even seem to pretty much > ignore the presence of humans - witness the Short-eared Owls at the > East 90 which almost seem to not care about the photogs crowding > very close to them to get that 'perfect' shot. Sometimes. > > From where I'm standing - it seems like a huge part of this phenomenon > is our (humans) tendency to try to overlay Human intelligence/behavior > on other species. I often hear people explaining bird behavior based > upon how a human would think/behave ... rather than simply observing > and describing the behavior(s) - and trying to see patterns in the way the > birds they see are behaving that are repeated over and over again. And > then, after considerable different observations have been made ... making > "sense" out of it. > - Jim in Skagit > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 26 15:27:07 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 26 15:27:12 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Nisqually Wednesday in December In-Reply-To: <176629278.33576.1766779548072@connect.xfinity.com> References: <176629278.33576.1766779548072@connect.xfinity.com> Message-ID: <67B9BACF-7B0A-419C-8075-A8AC9807E5D7@comcast.net> Ken, thanks for your lengthy narrative. And kudos to all of you who went out in that kind of weather to look for those birds! Dennis Paulson Seattle dennispaulson at comcast dot net > On Dec 26, 2025, at 12:05 PM, Kenneth Brown via Tweeters wrote: > > 'Twas the day before Christmas. The newly declared federal holiday meant the Refuge staff had the day off. Many of the usual suspects took a pass on the walk, possibly in anticipation of bad weather or holiday obligations. A small group ( 9 to start, 12 total) gathered this cool and cloudy morning. Birding started slow, a lone Bufflehead on the pond, overhead, American crows flew west, as we entered the play area, a Red-tailed Hawk followed a similar path. Three Common Mergansers flew south. In a bare tree near the Land Trust building, a Red-breasted Sapsucker. tended its neat rows of bark cavities shadowed by an Anna's Hummingbird checking behind, hoping to benefit from the Sapsucker's labor. > > In the "Forbidden Pond" west of the entrance road, a drake Eurasian Wigeon was escorted by a half dozen American Wigeon and two Mallards. Golden-crowned Sparrows and a Spotted Towhee worked the leaf litter on the east side of the entrance road, a pair of Downy Woodpecker were busy in a Cottonwood tree near the intersection with the service road. Mallards , Wigeon, and Northern Shovelers slowly meandered the flooded field south of the bend in the service road In the brush west of the north parking lot were Black-capped Chickadees, a Spotted Towhee, and Golden-crowned Kinglets. A Great Blue Heron stood sentry on the road bisecting the field, ignoring the American Robins and Northern Flickers between itself and us. To the south, the pond held more of the same ducks, on the north side a male Red-winged Blackbird watched the same three Tundra Swans seen last week, a few American Coots, and more ducks. > > Along the trail on the west side of the pond a couple Pied-billed Grebes and a Marsh Wren first caught our attention, a Virginia Rail called, Song, Golden-crowned and Fox Sparrows were in the brush on the other side, as were Bewick's, and Pacific Wrens. Several Ring-necked Ducks swam in and out of view at the grassy north end of the pond. The trail to the north was still indefinitely blocked, so back to the service road. Canada and Cackling geese held the grassy shore while the ducks, Swans, and Coots occupied the water. Light rain had been falling sporadically, now it began to increase. On the platform by the Twin Barns, while we snacked, a male American Kestrel flew in and landed on top of a owl entrance box, on the barns west side, carrying it's own snack, a small bird, species undetermined, but soon determinedly dismantled.. Some of us worried about the Kestrel's exposure to Avian Influenza, given its diet and proximity to the site of the Barn Owl's demise. > > Out on the dike, the rain a bit steadier, a few Bald Eagles dotted the trees along the Nisqually River. The surge plain a mix of water and exposed mud, was populated by ducks, mostly Wigeon and Green-winged Teal, and Gulls, mostly Ring-billed and Short-billed. A Northern Harrier sat on the ground, distant enough that we could not see what held it's attention. A small flock of Bushtits flitted through the short alders on the north side . As expected, once we cleared the shelter of the willows, the wind increased, the rain hit harder. Our group shrunk by half, we moved a bit quicker out to the covered platform at the start of the McAllister Creek boardwalk. The creek was sparsely dotted with Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Surf Scoters and the dark lumps of Harbor Seal heads. A smallish flock of Least Sandpipers flashed through, a few Greater Yellowlegs stalked the shore. From the gated north end a Common Loon was out off Luhr Beach, as were Red-breasted Mergansers, more Bufflehead and Surf Scoters. Brandt's Cormorants held the Channel Marker out on the reach, Double-crested Cormorants, closer in on piling and in the water. The rain had tapered off by the time we turned around to head back to the dike, a blue patch of sky visible far to the south. > > Back on the dike, a young Harrier perched on a snag in the freshwater marsh. In the wind shadow of the Willows a number of Golden-crowned Sparrows were accompanied by a White-crowned Sparrow and a White-throated Sparrow. At the Nisqually River overlook, the river high and muddy, though a bit less than last week, a couple Common Merganser drakes swam in the murky water. A California Sea Lion made brief appearances and large wakes on the waters surface, presumable hunting the winter run of Chum Salmon. A Harbor Seal also hunted but warily kept its distance from the much larger animal. South along the east side of the loop trail were Black-capped and Chestnut backed Chickadees, Brown Creepers, Pacific Wrens. By the time we returned to the Visitors Center the sky had mostly cleared and the weather was fine. See the checklist below: > > > Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR, Thurston, Washington, US > Dec 24, 2025 7:55 AM - 1:52 PM > Protocol: Traveling > 2.424 mile(s) > Checklist Comments: Wednesday Walk. The walk began on a calm, Overcast, 39? F morning with a south breeze increasing to 3-8 knots and rain showers developing by noon. We finished the walk with clearing skies and temperatures to 45? F. A +14.8-foot high tide at 09:10 a.m. ebbed to a +7.3-foot high at 3:15 p.m. Mammals seen included eastern grey squirrel, Columbian Black-tailed Deer, and eastern cottontail. There were Harbor Seals in McAllister Creek, and seals and California Sea Lions hunting chum salmon in the Nisqually River. > > Total Time = 8 hrs 22 minutes > Total Distance = 5.32 miles > 60 species (+4 other taxa) > > Cackling Goose (minima) 830 > Cackling Goose (Taverner's) 4 > Canada Goose 35 > Tundra Swan 3 Pen, cob, and cygnet > Northern Shoveler 75 > Gadwall 8 > Eurasian Wigeon 1 > American Wigeon 1530 > Mallard 155 > Northern Pintail 145 > Green-winged Teal 450 > Ring-necked Duck 8 Visitors' Center Pond > Surf Scoter 40 McAllister Creek and Nisqually Reach > Bufflehead 85 > Common Goldeneye 24 McAllister Creek and Nisqually Reach > Hooded Merganser 1 McAllister Creek > Common Merganser 5 Three flying upriver over orchard area; 2 drakes at Nisqually River overlook > Red-breasted Merganser 9 McAllister Creek and Nisqually Reach > Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 21 Entrance gate > Anna's Hummingbird 2 One was getting 'nectar' from sapsucker holes near the Land Trust office > Virginia Rail 1 Vocalizing from visitors' center pond > American Coot 9 > Greater Yellowlegs 38 > Least Sandpiper 32 One flock on McAllister Creek > Short-billed Gull 70 > Ring-billed Gull 35 > Glaucous-winged Gull 2 > Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 5 > Western/Glaucous-winged Gull 25 > Pied-billed Grebe 2 Visitors' center pond > Common Loon 1 Nisqually Reach > Brandt's Cormorant 11 Nisqually Reach channel marker > Double-crested Cormorant 15 > Great Blue Heron 13 > Northern Harrier 2 Adult female & immature > Bald Eagle 13 > Red-tailed Hawk (calurus/alascensis) 3 > Belted Kingfisher 3 > Red-breasted Sapsucker 1 Land Trust pear tree > Downy Woodpecker (Pacific) 4 > Hairy Woodpecker 2 > Northern Flicker 4 > Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 3 > American Kestrel 1 Carrying a small bird as prey to the twin barns > American Crow 135 > Black-capped Chickadee 20 > Chestnut-backed Chickadee 12 > Bushtit (Pacific) 6 > Ruby-crowned Kinglet 7 > Golden-crowned Kinglet 15 > Brown Creeper 6 > Pacific Wren 2 > Marsh Wren 7 > Bewick's Wren 2 > European Starling 95 > American Robin 10 > Fox Sparrow (Sooty) 5 > Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 1 > White-crowned Sparrow (pugetensis) 1 > Golden-crowned Sparrow 35 > White-throated Sparrow 1 Tan striped > Song Sparrow (rufina Group) 25 > Spotted Towhee (oregonus Group) 8 > Red-winged Blackbird 30 > > View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S290080197 > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 26 17:02:31 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Steve Hampton via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 26 17:02:46 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] =?utf-8?q?=E2=80=8B_Port_Townsend_Christmas_Bird_Count?= =?utf-8?q?_2025_Summary?= Message-ID: Port Townsend Christmas Bird Count 2025 Summary sponsored by Rainshadow Bird Alliance By Steve Hampton The 49th Port Townsend Christmas Bird Count, held on December 20, 2025, was breezy but dry. Temps hovered around freezing in the starlit dawn sky, and rose into the mid-40s with a solid to hazy overcast. The winds didn?t relax until late, but were limited to exposed sites, mostly on the east side. The boat went forth, with some delay, into some difficult seas. The count set records in many categories. We ended up with 126 species, edging the all-time high, set two years ago, by one bird. Participation was also a record, with 115 participants, a number that includes 22 feeder watchers at 18 feeders. The previous high was 104 participants, set last year. The field teams put in 183 party hours, significantly higher than the old record of 153, set two years ago. The teams included four young birders, aged 9 to 13, each of whom walked many miles. Lifers were had. Together, we traveled 89 miles on foot and 221 miles by car. Area A ? Port Townsend to Kala Point ? had 11 teams in the field, mostly on foot, and accounted for about half the party hours. No turnstone was left unturned. The count featured some heroic efforts. Ali Kasperzak braved the winds at the Flagler Spit to examine each shorebird and gull, ultimately picking out and photographing our only Herring Gull. Tina Roumi came off the bench from Sequim to fill in for Barry McKenzie (on loan to Sevilla) at Fort Worden; she put in 9.5 hours and logged 75 species, in what appears to be the largest eBird checklist ever for Jefferson County. Finally, kudos to Jim Norris, who stepped up to provide a boat for the offshore survey. Bob Boekelheide reported 4-foot seas in Oak Bay, with spray over the whole deck. To give you an idea of the conditions, this veteran seabird ornithologist reported slight queasiness for the first time in years. He did notch the count?s only Black Scoter. Brian Ellis again had access to Indian Island. When he texted me ?NSTR,? I thought he?d found a rare Asian vagrant - is there a Northern Short-tailed Redstart? Alas, it turned out that the Navy in an acronym-rich environment, and he was merely indicating no heart-stopping rarities. Statistically, the rarest species on the count was American Pipit, three of which were found on the beach at Kala Point. The only previous count record comes from 1977, on the very first Port Townsend CBC. Other highlights included two Northern Shrikes (one each in Center and Beaver Valleys), the continuing Rough-legged Hawk in Center Valley, the Rock Sandpiper at Flagler, and the seven Western Meadowlarks at Pt Wilson. The feeder watchers again provided the count?s only White-throated Sparrow, as well as 10 to 20% of many backyard species. In addition to the 126 species, we just missed seven more: Wood Duck, Short-tailed Shearwater, Red-shouldered Hawk, American Barn Owl, American Dipper, Barn Swallow, and Evening Grosbeak. These will go down as ?count week? birds, as they were seen within three days of the count in either direction. Several of these are very rare on the count, and the Barn Swallow is a first. Record high counts were set for a whopping 24 species. These were: Common Merganser (371 > 224) Pied-billed Grebe (36 > 25) Red-tailed Hawk (25 > 23) Eurasian Collared-Dove (62 > 57) Great Horned Owl (3 > 2) Anna?s Hummingbird (193 > 171) Belted Kingfisher (39 > 38) Downy Woodpecker (39 > 24) Hairy Woodpecker (39 > 22) Northern Flicker (206 > 118) Pileated Woodpecker (14 > 9) American Kestrel (7 > 6) Black-capped Chickadee (381 > 292) Red-breasted Nuthatch (174 > 123) Brown Creeper (41 > 24) Pacific Wren (202 > 112) Marsh Wren (18 > 16) Bewick?s Wren (51 > 46) American Robin (2147 > 1835) Dark-eyed Junco (1483 > 1342) Golden-crowned Sparrow (400 > 336) Spotted Towhee (306 > 237) Western Meadowlark (7 > 5) House Finch (530 > 448) The primary metric for analyzing CBC data is birds per party hour. When adjusted for party hours, all of these records disappear except for Hairy Woodpecker! Interestingly, hummingbirds per party hour have been relatively constant since 2016. There were no record low counts, though 21 Pine Siskins was the 2nd lowest ever, and well below the average of 463. They are likely enjoying the winter elsewhere. We also capped the day with the Compilation Potluck at the Rosewind Common Room. Thanks to all the area leaders and participants! In 2026, we hope to add more opportunities for new participants! -- Steve Hampton Port Townsend, WA (qat?y) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 26 17:23:26 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 26 17:23:32 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] =?utf-8?q?=E2=80=8B_Port_Townsend_Christmas_Bird_Count?= =?utf-8?q?_2025_Summary?= In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Steve, thanks for this accounting, very enjoyable to read and contemplate, especially from the warmth of home.-;) And thanks to Bob Boekelheide as well for the same report from Sequim-Dungeness. That whole shoreline is really a wonderful destination for birds and birders. We have more juncos in our yard than ever before, and it?s so nice to see large numbers of birds of so many species on our CBCs and in our yards in the midst of the overall declines of bird populations. It?s also rewarding to hear of so many people participating in what is one of the longest-running and most important efforts to keep collecting data on those populations. Dennis Paulson Seattle > On Dec 26, 2025, at 5:02 PM, Steve Hampton via Tweeters wrote: > > Port Townsend Christmas Bird Count 2025 Summary > sponsored by Rainshadow Bird Alliance > > By Steve Hampton > > The 49th Port Townsend Christmas Bird Count, held on December 20, 2025, was breezy but dry. Temps hovered around freezing in the starlit dawn sky, and rose into the mid-40s with a solid to hazy overcast. The winds didn?t relax until late, but were limited to exposed sites, mostly on the east side. The boat went forth, with some delay, into some difficult seas. > > The count set records in many categories. We ended up with 126 species, edging the all-time high, set two years ago, by one bird. Participation was also a record, with 115 participants, a number that includes 22 feeder watchers at 18 feeders. The previous high was 104 participants, set last year. The field teams put in 183 party hours, significantly higher than the old record of 153, set two years ago. The teams included four young birders, aged 9 to 13, each of whom walked many miles. Lifers were had. > > Together, we traveled 89 miles on foot and 221 miles by car. Area A ? Port Townsend to Kala Point ? had 11 teams in the field, mostly on foot, and accounted for about half the party hours. No turnstone was left unturned. > > The count featured some heroic efforts. Ali Kasperzak braved the winds at the Flagler Spit to examine each shorebird and gull, ultimately picking out and photographing our only Herring Gull. Tina Roumi came off the bench from Sequim to fill in for Barry McKenzie (on loan to Sevilla) at Fort Worden; she put in 9.5 hours and logged 75 species, in what appears to be the largest eBird checklist ever for Jefferson County. Finally, kudos to Jim Norris, who stepped up to provide a boat for the offshore survey. Bob Boekelheide reported 4-foot seas in Oak Bay, with spray over the whole deck. To give you an idea of the conditions, this veteran seabird ornithologist reported slight queasiness for the first time in years. He did notch the count?s only Black Scoter. > > Brian Ellis again had access to Indian Island. When he texted me ?NSTR,? I thought he?d found a rare Asian vagrant - is there a Northern Short-tailed Redstart? Alas, it turned out that the Navy in an acronym-rich environment, and he was merely indicating no heart-stopping rarities. > > Statistically, the rarest species on the count was American Pipit, three of which were found on the beach at Kala Point. The only previous count record comes from 1977, on the very first Port Townsend CBC. Other highlights included two Northern Shrikes (one each in Center and Beaver Valleys), the continuing Rough-legged Hawk in Center Valley, the Rock Sandpiper at Flagler, and the seven Western Meadowlarks at Pt Wilson. The feeder watchers again provided the count?s only White-throated Sparrow, as well as 10 to 20% of many backyard species. > > In addition to the 126 species, we just missed seven more: Wood Duck, Short-tailed Shearwater, Red-shouldered Hawk, American Barn Owl, American Dipper, Barn Swallow, and Evening Grosbeak. These will go down as ?count week? birds, as they were seen within three days of the count in either direction. Several of these are very rare on the count, and the Barn Swallow is a first. > > Record high counts were set for a whopping 24 species. These were: > > Common Merganser (371 > 224) > Pied-billed Grebe (36 > 25) > Red-tailed Hawk (25 > 23) > Eurasian Collared-Dove (62 > 57) > Great Horned Owl (3 > 2) > Anna?s Hummingbird (193 > 171) > Belted Kingfisher (39 > 38) > Downy Woodpecker (39 > 24) > Hairy Woodpecker (39 > 22) > Northern Flicker (206 > 118) > Pileated Woodpecker (14 > 9) > American Kestrel (7 > 6) > Black-capped Chickadee (381 > 292) > Red-breasted Nuthatch (174 > 123) > Brown Creeper (41 > 24) > Pacific Wren (202 > 112) > Marsh Wren (18 > 16) > Bewick?s Wren (51 > 46) > American Robin (2147 > 1835) > Dark-eyed Junco (1483 > 1342) > Golden-crowned Sparrow (400 > 336) > Spotted Towhee (306 > 237) > Western Meadowlark (7 > 5) > House Finch (530 > 448) > > The primary metric for analyzing CBC data is birds per party hour. When adjusted for party hours, all of these records disappear except for Hairy Woodpecker! Interestingly, hummingbirds per party hour have been relatively constant since 2016. > > There were no record low counts, though 21 Pine Siskins was the 2nd lowest ever, and well below the average of 463. They are likely enjoying the winter elsewhere. > > We also capped the day with the Compilation Potluck at the Rosewind Common Room. Thanks to all the area leaders and participants! In 2026, we hope to add more opportunities for new participants! > > > -- > Steve Hampton > Port Townsend, WA (qat?y) > > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 26 22:06:16 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Hans-Joachim Feddern via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 26 22:06:29 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] FOS Varied Trish Message-ID: I saw my first-of-season Varied Thrush this morning. It was loosely associating with a flock of 20 + American Robins at the Dumas Bay Centre/Knudzen Theater here in Federal Way. I was just thinking the other day that I had not seen anyVaried Trush yet or seen any reported! I am also wondering if about any Pine Siskin sightings ? Good Birding! Hans *Hans Feddern* Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA thefedderns@gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 26 23:16:11 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Chuq Von Rospach via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 26 23:16:15 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] FOS Varied Trish In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Dec 26, 2025 at 22:06:16, Hans-Joachim Feddern via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > I saw my first-of-season Varied Thrush this morning. It was loosely > associating with a flock of 20 + American Robins at the Dumas Bay > Centre/Knudzen Theater here in Federal Way. I was just thinking the other > day that I had not seen anyVaried Trush yet or seen any reported! I am also > wondering if about any Pine Siskin sightings ? > We live at about 500? elevation above Silverdale on the way towards Seabeck on about 4 acres of mostly pine/cedar/hemlock. We?ve gotten varied thrush here every winter, usually run early-mid December. We saw our first one about ten days ago, and so far this winter we?ve only seen a single bird twice a few days apart. So from my view, they?re kind of around but by now we usually have 5-7 being skittish and trying not to be seen. Our annual fox sparrow showed up about the normal time (we actually have two!). The Robins have gone downhill, although one or two single birds might still be around, we normally lose them in November and don?t see them until they migrate uphill to announce that it?s spring. Overall, our bird population is about normal this winter (but no white-throated ?we?ve seen them a couple of times but not every year). On the plus side, we have a female Downy at the feeders every day or two, to go with our Hairy, a few flickers and the local Pileated, so I?m not complaining. Lots of Juncos, chickadees (no chestnut this winter), spotted towhees and red-breasted nuthatches to keep the feeders busy. My wife told me the other day she saw what she believes is a leucistic black-capped at the feeder. I?m now keeping an eye out for it to confirm. Will hopefully get pictures. Chuq --------------------------------------- Chuq Von Rospach (http://www.chuq.me) Silverdale, Washington Birder, Nature and Wildlife Photographer Email me at: chuqvr@gmail.com Mastodon: @chuqvr@fosstodon.org Stay Updated with what I'm doing: https://www.chuq.me/6fps/ My latest e-book: https://www.chuq.me/ebooks -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 26 23:45:11 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Hans-Joachim Feddern via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 26 23:45:25 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] FOS Varied Trish In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Very interesting Chuq! Maybe the lack of snow kept them higher up, but with the snowfall now, they are starting to move downhill. We are almost at sea level and you are higher up and saw the thrushes earlier! We also get a pair of Downy Woodpecker almost daily, Flickers daily and also a female Townsend?s Warbler. Also loads of juncos, both chickadees (more Chest-nutbackeds)RB Nuthatches and lots of House Finches. I do not have Fox Sparrows, but have at least Half a dozen Golden-crowned Sparrows in the neighborhood. Good Birding! Hans *Hans Feddern* Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA thefedderns@gmail.com On Fri, Dec 26, 2025 at 11:16?PM Chuq Von Rospach wrote: > On Dec 26, 2025 at 22:06:16, Hans-Joachim Feddern via Tweeters < > tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > >> I saw my first-of-season Varied Thrush this morning. It was loosely >> associating with a flock of 20 + American Robins at the Dumas Bay >> Centre/Knudzen Theater here in Federal Way. I was just thinking the other >> day that I had not seen anyVaried Trush yet or seen any reported! I am also >> wondering if about any Pine Siskin sightings ? >> > > We live at about 500? elevation above Silverdale on the way towards > Seabeck on about 4 acres of mostly pine/cedar/hemlock. We?ve gotten varied > thrush here every winter, usually run early-mid December. We saw our first > one about ten days ago, and so far this winter we?ve only seen a single > bird twice a few days apart. So from my view, they?re kind of around but by > now we usually have 5-7 being skittish and trying not to be seen. > > Our annual fox sparrow showed up about the normal time (we actually have > two!). The Robins have gone downhill, although one or two single birds > might still be around, we normally lose them in November and don?t see them > until they migrate uphill to announce that it?s spring. Overall, our bird > population is about normal this winter (but no white-throated ?we?ve seen > them a couple of times but not every year). On the plus side, we have a > female Downy at the feeders every day or two, to go with our Hairy, a few > flickers and the local Pileated, so I?m not complaining. Lots of Juncos, > chickadees (no chestnut this winter), spotted towhees and red-breasted > nuthatches to keep the feeders busy. > > My wife told me the other day she saw what she believes is a leucistic > black-capped at the feeder. I?m now keeping an eye out for it to confirm. > Will hopefully get pictures. > > Chuq > > --------------------------------------- > > Chuq Von Rospach (http://www.chuq.me) > Silverdale, Washington > Birder, Nature and Wildlife Photographer > > Email me at: chuqvr@gmail.com > Mastodon: @chuqvr@fosstodon.org > > Stay Updated with what I'm doing: https://www.chuq.me/6fps/ > My latest e-book: https://www.chuq.me/ebooks > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Fri Dec 26 23:56:10 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Chuq Von Rospach via Tweeters) Date: Fri Dec 26 23:56:14 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] FOS Varied Trish In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Dec 26, 2025 at 23:45:11, Hans-Joachim Feddern wrote: > Very interesting Chuq! Maybe the lack of snow kept them higher up, but > with the snowfall now, they are starting to move downhill. We are almost at > sea level and you are higher up and saw the thrushes earlier! We also get a > pair of Downy Woodpecker almost daily, Flickers daily and also a female > Townsend?s Warbler. Also loads of juncos, both chickadees (more > Chest-nutbackeds)RB Nuthatches and lots of House Finches. I do not have Fox > Sparrows, but have at least Half a dozen Golden-crowned Sparrows in the > neighborhood. > We?re generally good for one or two snowfalls that stick. Often enough that I did hire a plow service this year (that I discovered this year) and have considered buying a plow for the truck, but not so often that we?re actually cut off from the outside world (the plowing is more for the delivery trucks, and one winter we almost had a FedEx guy for an extended stay?) Crowned sparrows are quite unusual here for some reason (same for house finches; we have purple breed here in summer). Other things we almost never see are house sparrows and starlings. I had a feeling this place was good bird habitat when we decided to buy it, and I was right ? the yard list is at a whopping 78 species since 2021, although that includes a few fun weird things like a flyover ringed-neck duck?And we finally had a red-breasted sapsucker migrate through, so we are officially a five woodpecker location. I?ve documented 9-10 species breeding here and likely another maybe 5, so I can?t complain about this place and how birdy it is? Chuq --------------------------------------- Chuq Von Rospach (http://www.chuq.me) Silverdale, Washington Birder, Nature and Wildlife Photographer Email me at: chuqvr@gmail.com Mastodon: @chuqvr@fosstodon.org Stay Updated with what I'm doing: https://www.chuq.me/6fps/ My latest e-book: https://www.chuq.me/ebooks -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 27 07:56:15 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Stef Neis via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 27 07:56:36 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] FOS Varied Trish In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <9170EF8C-EC97-4CBA-91BA-F097EB32EF6A@whidbey.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 27 13:00:35 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Hans-Joachim Feddern via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 27 13:00:49 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] FOS Varied Trish In-Reply-To: <9170EF8C-EC97-4CBA-91BA-F097EB32EF6A@whidbey.com> References: <9170EF8C-EC97-4CBA-91BA-F097EB32EF6A@whidbey.com> Message-ID: Point well taken about lack of siskins on your feeder Frank! *Hans Feddern* Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA thefedderns@gmail.com On Sat, Dec 27, 2025 at 7:56?AM Stef Neis wrote: > We have had a pair of varied thrush here for about 2 weeks now. They, a > red-breasted sapsucker and other have been gleaning the last of the King > apples from our tree here. Now the pair are hanging out with the juncos > and towhees by the feeder. > Stef Neis > Whidbey Island > Sent from my iPad > > On Dec 26, 2025, at 11:47?PM, Hans-Joachim Feddern via Tweeters < > tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > > ? > > Very interesting Chuq! Maybe the lack of snow kept them higher up, but > with the snowfall now, they are starting to move downhill. We are almost at > sea level and you are higher up and saw the thrushes earlier! We also get a > pair of Downy Woodpecker almost daily, Flickers daily and also a female > Townsend?s Warbler. Also loads of juncos, both chickadees (more > Chest-nutbackeds)RB Nuthatches and lots of House Finches. I do not have Fox > Sparrows, but have at least Half a dozen Golden-crowned Sparrows in the > neighborhood. > > Good Birding! > Hans > > *Hans Feddern* > Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA > thefedderns@gmail.com > > > On Fri, Dec 26, 2025 at 11:16?PM Chuq Von Rospach > wrote: > >> On Dec 26, 2025 at 22:06:16, Hans-Joachim Feddern via Tweeters < >> tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: >> >>> I saw my first-of-season Varied Thrush this morning. It was loosely >>> associating with a flock of 20 + American Robins at the Dumas Bay >>> Centre/Knudzen Theater here in Federal Way. I was just thinking the other >>> day that I had not seen anyVaried Trush yet or seen any reported! I am also >>> wondering if about any Pine Siskin sightings ? >>> >> >> We live at about 500? elevation above Silverdale on the way towards >> Seabeck on about 4 acres of mostly pine/cedar/hemlock. We?ve gotten varied >> thrush here every winter, usually run early-mid December. We saw our first >> one about ten days ago, and so far this winter we?ve only seen a single >> bird twice a few days apart. So from my view, they?re kind of around but by >> now we usually have 5-7 being skittish and trying not to be seen. >> >> Our annual fox sparrow showed up about the normal time (we actually have >> two!). The Robins have gone downhill, although one or two single birds >> might still be around, we normally lose them in November and don?t see them >> until they migrate uphill to announce that it?s spring. Overall, our bird >> population is about normal this winter (but no white-throated ?we?ve seen >> them a couple of times but not every year). On the plus side, we have a >> female Downy at the feeders every day or two, to go with our Hairy, a few >> flickers and the local Pileated, so I?m not complaining. Lots of Juncos, >> chickadees (no chestnut this winter), spotted towhees and red-breasted >> nuthatches to keep the feeders busy. >> >> My wife told me the other day she saw what she believes is a leucistic >> black-capped at the feeder. I?m now keeping an eye out for it to confirm. >> Will hopefully get pictures. >> >> Chuq >> >> --------------------------------------- >> >> Chuq Von Rospach (http://www.chuq.me) >> Silverdale, Washington >> Birder, Nature and Wildlife Photographer >> >> Email me at: chuqvr@gmail.com >> Mastodon: @chuqvr@fosstodon.org >> >> Stay Updated with what I'm doing: https://www.chuq.me/6fps/ >> My latest e-book: https://www.chuq.me/ebooks >> >> >> _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 27 17:21:32 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 27 17:21:38 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Yellow-billed Loon(s?) at Blaine, Semiahmoo Message-ID: <12FB6A51-9DF1-4427-BF0C-B2B5C31F8B49@comcast.net> Hello tweets, Netta and I visited Blane and Semiahmoo Spit today (12/27), as much as anything to see if we could get photos of a Yellow-billed Loon that people had been reporting on eBird as ?at close range.? As far as I recalled, it had been seen at Semiahmoo only. We got to Blaine and were watching birds from the pier at the end of the road, talking to a group who were conducting the White Rock Christmas Bird Count. They had not seen a YBLO from there. As we were talking to them, a loon surfaced with a fish right in front of us, and I photographed it quickly before it dove again. We didn?t see it again. We drove over to the opposite side, spent quite a bit of time watching the water at the end of the spit, where another group of people had just spotted a YBLO. Finally, the loon surfaced in front of us and quickly dove, but not before I got a few photos. It stayed underwater much longer than the Common Loons, of which there were quite a few in sight, and we only had it close to us that one time. We saw it surface three times, each time surprisingly distant from where it dove, certainly at least several hundred feet. Now home and looking at our photos, I see the the one I photographed was also a Yellow-billed! It came up and went down so fast that all I could do was snap the photos, and because no Yellow-billed had been seen from there by this diligent group, I just presumed it was one of the Commons among several that were feeding nearby. It could just be the lighting, but I suspect they were two different birds, as the barring on the upperparts looks wider in the Semiahmoo bird. The photos were taken two hours apart, so there was plenty of time for the Blaine bird to have moved across the channel. But I don?t know why it would have. At least now I understand why we didn?t see the Blaine loon again. I?m writing this in part because the CBC group hadn?t seen a Yellow-billed, and if anyone on tweeters knows anyone who was on that count, it would be good to let them know. Dennis Paulson Seattle dennispaulson at comcast dot net From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 27 20:56:55 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jim Betz via Tweeters) Date: Sat Dec 27 20:57:00 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Bird Brains In-Reply-To: <3233a79a-6658-4ffc-acf8-8c3f7abff2f3@jimbetz.com> References: <3233a79a-6658-4ffc-acf8-8c3f7abff2f3@jimbetz.com> Message-ID: <0ecdc6c0-4e87-40ca-b3a6-2a5f2c698fed@jimbetz.com> On 12/27/2025 8:43 PM, Jim Betz wrote: > Robert, > > ? Here is the link to the youtube video I posted before ... > > ? ?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlnioeAtloY >> Message: 3 >> Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2025 21:20:48 +0000 (UTC) >> From: rrowland via Tweeters >> To: , >> ???? >> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] bird behavior - Jim in Skagit >> Message-ID: <583274464.2350370.1766784048892@mail.yahoo.com> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" >> >> Hi Jim, >> Thanks for your ruminations regarding bird behavior. I especially >> like that you are considering individuals and their behavior and not >> grouping species as a whole.Can you post the you tube video >> link?again, that you referenced? >> Robert? -- Jim on Laptop From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sat Dec 27 12:29:17 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Carol Riddell via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 28 12:52:33 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Fall Varied Thrushes in Edmonds Message-ID: <1FBCE5DB-E0DF-4741-8A47-CC0AB2611849@gmail.com> Hi Tweets, I saw my first Varied Thrush of fall at Edmonds marsh, 10-4-25. I then saw two in Southwest County Park, 11-3-25. One thrush was reported in Yost Park, 11-12-25. There have been six reports in Pine Ridge Park between 11-15 and 12-20-25. Personally, I have yet to see or hear any in that park this fall/early winter. There was a report of one thrush in Hickman Park, 11-30-25. I don?t see any yard reports on an Edmonds eBird species map yet. Happy new year, Carol Riddell Edmonds, WA cariddellwa at gmail dot com From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 28 14:36:00 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dee Dee via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 28 14:56:36 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] FOS Yellow-rump & a Lesser Goldfinch yet again References: <645958A0-01B9-4B6F-9441-7E4895923188.ref@yahoo.com> Message-ID: <645958A0-01B9-4B6F-9441-7E4895923188@yahoo.com> This morning (Sunday 28 Dec) was a great ?out the kitchen window? bird morning for me. Finally had a FOS Yellow-rumped Warbler briefly at the suet feeder just after 9am (a few less-than-stellar photos but good enough for ID purposes). I have missed the bright warblers so far this late Fall-into-Winter season and was happy to see one. About 10 minutes before noon, glimpsed a male Lesser Goldfinch on seed feeder. It was quickly spooked away with all the various other birds but?Yay!?returned shortly for another typically short visit, but at least I was able to get better pics. They will be posted to eBird when I get time. Happy end-of-year birding?and I always look forward to seeing the FOY posts as the New Year begins. Dee W Edmonds From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 28 17:59:00 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 28 17:59:06 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Fwd: YBLO @ Semiahmoo References: Message-ID: <5A94677C-6F84-4565-B689-F1E0BC8EF428@comcast.net> Good news from Stephen Chase to follow up my post on Yellow-billed Loons. > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Stephen Chase > Subject: YBLO @ Semiahmoo > Date: December 28, 2025 at 10:59:17 AM PST > To: dennispaulson@comcast.net > > Hi Dennis, > > I'm no longer subscribed to Tweeters, but I lurk on the Archives every now and then. I saw your post regarding the YBLO(s?) at Semiahmoo. > > My son Josiah and I covered the Drayton Harbor of Semiahmoo Spit for the White Rock CBC, and around 10:00 had excellent views of the YBLO. We saw one again around 10:40 about 100 yards to the northwest. Like you, I wondered if it may have been a different bird, as it had a noticeably denser-patterned back than the initial sighting. I'm now quite convinced there are two wintering YBLOs in the channel between Semiahmoo Bay and Drayton Harbor. There were a number of birders and photographers on both sides of the channel, so if some photos get published to eBird, they might serve well to settle the question. > > Anyways, I can confirm that one YBLO was successfully located, photographed, and added to the database for the White Rock CBC. > > Feel free to share this publicly on Tweeters if you feel it useful. > > Thanks, > Stephen Chase -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 28 19:24:52 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Rachel Lawson via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 28 19:24:58 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Pishing success (and quiz link) Message-ID: Joseph and I are staying in an airbnb in Magnolia, Seattle until we leave for England. This morning, Joseph spotted a woodpecker from the window, so I dug out my binoculars, stepped outside the door, and pished for about five seconds. Immediately, TWELVE species of birds popped up! I have never had such a successful response to pishing. By the way, the bird-and-word quiz now has 147 birds. Have fun! https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/0754c7cacc114ca78563978ebaecf6b5 Rachel Lawson Seattle (until Thursday) Rwlawson5593@outlook.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun Dec 28 19:56:04 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (B B via Tweeters) Date: Sun Dec 28 19:56:09 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Costa Rica Blog Post References: <1140859351.2573292.1766980564014.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1140859351.2573292.1766980564014@mail.yahoo.com> This post is the first of two covering a recent photo focused trip to Costa Rica.? A second will follow.? More than 50 species in photos in this one - many quite spectacular. https://blairbirding.com/2025/12/29/costa-rica-then-and-now-part-1/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 29 12:56:13 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Judith A. Howard via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 29 12:56:20 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Varied Thrush on South Whidbeey Message-ID: <3477B0D3-E079-4338-AFA5-13689D1FE4BF@uw.edu> Noting Carol?s summary of recent varied thrush sightings, this morning I was delighted to see the first of the year for us in the Clinton area on Whidbey Island. Last year I never saw any, but in earlier years we would usually have at least ten, often more. It was a thrill to see one back. Hopefully more are on the way. Judy Howard Clinton WA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 29 14:39:25 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Cooper PhD, Jonathan A via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 29 14:39:30 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Peaceful coexistence among Annas Message-ID: Hi Tweeters - Our hummingbird feeder is normally the scene of hot disputes, with a competitive male wasting no time to chase off other visitors. The other evening, in the half light, we were surprised to see not one but three, then four, Annas perched around the rim, one at each of the drinking holes. They took it in turns for one to drink while the other three watched, bills up. This went on for several minutes until it got too dark for us to see. Why such peaceful co-existence? Jon Cooper and Diane Doles Madrona jcooper@fredhutch.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 29 14:44:27 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dennis Paulson via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 29 14:44:31 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Peaceful coexistence among Annas In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <9446120A-F40E-46CE-865A-D38A67B08FDA@comcast.net> Jon and Diane, I suspect it is because there is no further point in defending a food source when it is almost dark, and you won?t be feeding there again on this day. Flowers make new nectar during the night, so probably that?s why they are so programmed to relax aggression at that time. And hummingbird feeders almost always have nectar in them the next morning. We have seen this many times at our feeders toward the end of the day. Dennis Paulson Seattle > On Dec 29, 2025, at 2:39 PM, Cooper PhD, Jonathan A via Tweeters wrote: > > Hi Tweeters - Our hummingbird feeder is normally the scene of hot disputes, with a competitive male wasting no time to chase off other visitors. The other evening, in the half light, we were surprised to see not one but three, then four, Annas perched around the rim, one at each of the drinking holes. They took it in turns for one to drink while the other three watched, bills up. This went on for several minutes until it got too dark for us to see. Why such peaceful co-existence? > Jon Cooper and Diane Doles > Madrona > jcooper@fredhutch.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 29 15:36:53 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Ann Kramer via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 29 15:37:33 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Peaceful coexistence among Annas In-Reply-To: <9446120A-F40E-46CE-865A-D38A67B08FDA@comcast.net> References: <9446120A-F40E-46CE-865A-D38A67B08FDA@comcast.net> Message-ID: Jon and Diane, I agree with Dennis. I learned this at a workshop years ago in California, that they will be seen in temporary "truce" at the first drink in the morning and then just before dusk, for the reasons Dennis pointed out. It is interesting that it also occurs in the crack of morning, but I suspect that is because they are refueling after a night without nectar in torpor. I found this information on AI. Hummingbirds *don't* usually call a truce; they are intensely territorial, but in early mornings and late evenings, their behavior shifts because they need to focus on intense feeding (loading up on calories for the night/day) and conserve energy, sometimes leading to a temporary "standoff" or less aggressive sharing if they're too tired or realizing another feeder is nearby, though guarding usually continues until they must rest. It's about survival?maximizing energy intake when light is low and resting to avoid depleting vital reserves, making them prioritize feeding over constant fighting, though a tough defender might still chase rivals. *Why the Change in Behavior?* - *Energy Conservation:* Hummingbirds have incredibly high metabolisms, needing constant fuel. During dawn and dusk, they must rapidly refuel but can't afford the energy cost of constant, high-speed chases, so they focus on quick sips. - *Nighttime Survival:* They enter a state of torpor (a mini-hibernation) overnight, requiring a full "tank" of nectar to survive the cold hours, so evening feeding is crucial. - *Daylight Start:* Similarly, they need immediate energy upon waking to power their rapid metabolisms for the day, making morning feeding a priority. - *Territory Management:* While they defend feeders fiercely as "flowers," the sheer volume of birds in late summer (when many feeders are busy) can overwhelm a single bird's ability to guard everything, leading to shared usage or less intense guarding. - *It's Not Always a Truce:* - *Temporary Lulls:* You might see multiple birds at a feeder for a few minutes, but often, a dominant bird will start chasing others away again as they finish feeding. - *Increased Numbers:* With more hummingbirds around, they sometimes form loose aggregations, but this doesn't negate their innate territoriality, according to this Reddit thread . - Essentially, it's less a polite truce and more a strategic shift in focus to essential energy acquisition before rest or the start of a busy day, notes this YouTube video On Mon, Dec 29, 2025 at 2:44?PM Dennis Paulson via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Jon and Diane, > > I suspect it is because there is no further point in defending a food > source when it is almost dark, and you won?t be feeding there again on this > day. Flowers make new nectar during the night, so probably that?s why they > are so programmed to relax aggression at that time. And hummingbird feeders > almost always have nectar in them the next morning. > > We have seen this many times at our feeders toward the end of the day. > > Dennis Paulson > Seattle > > On Dec 29, 2025, at 2:39 PM, Cooper PhD, Jonathan A via Tweeters < > tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > > Hi Tweeters - Our hummingbird feeder is normally the scene of hot > disputes, with a competitive male wasting no time to chase off other > visitors. The other evening, in the half light, we were surprised to see > not one but three, then four, Annas perched around the rim, one at each of > the drinking holes. They took it in turns for one to drink while the other > three watched, bills up. This went on for several minutes until it got too > dark for us to see. Why such peaceful co-existence? > Jon Cooper and Diane Doles > Madrona > jcooper@fredhutch.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 29 16:07:22 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Robert O'Brien via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 29 16:07:36 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Torpor in Hummers Message-ID: Over decades of birding I've experienced 'torpor' or 'not' twice. This seems an appropriate time to discuss them for possible feedback. 1. I had a hummer feeder on my front porch. When I went to refill the feeder I accidentally dropped and broke it. No backup. So I got an olive jar about 2"x 4"deep, filled it with 'the, 'juice' and fashioned a way to attach it. That worked fine. The male Rufous just landed on the edge and sipped away. I sorta forgot about it, but one day, when I returned home, I happened to glance at the jar and noticed an apparently dead male Rufous, bill down in the jar, now empty of juice.. I guess it had to dip further and further down, until it actually fell in. Oh, no. No idea how long it had been in there, but I knew about torpor, so I cupped it in my hand for warmth and went into the house. In 5-10 minutes I felt a 'stirring' 5 or so minutes later, I released it back outside, apparently none the worse for wear.. Great. But, conversely. Years ago, we had 3 or 4 nights here, SE of Portland, with a low of 6 degrees F. I had a bona fide feeder back on the porch that I took in during the night so it did not freeze. I got up each morning when it was just barely light to replace the feeder in case any hummers were surviving, which seemed unlikely. When I did this the first morning, a female Anna's immediately flew up from low weeds on the ground 15 feet away, and started partaking. This repeated the following two nights after which it warmed up. Now, this hummer was undoubtedly in Torpor (or not?) during the night, aided likely by some amount of ground heat to prevent freezing, even in Torpor. So, 2. How did the hummer know to spend the night on the ground? 3. How is it that the hummer was 'awake' at barely first light, as though waiting for me to replace the feeder. I don't think they can come out of torpor immediately, can they? And at 6 degrees I wasn't loitering on my porch, I put the feeder up and the hummer arrived immediately. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Bob OBrien Portland -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 29 16:30:58 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Robert O'Brien via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 29 16:31:12 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Torpor in Hummers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: And a corollary: At 6 degrees night time low for several days it didn't even get into the 20's during the day, although I don't recall the exact details as this was decades ago.. On Mon, Dec 29, 2025 at 4:07?PM Robert O'Brien wrote: > Over decades of birding I've experienced 'torpor' or 'not' twice. This > seems an appropriate time to discuss them for possible feedback. > > 1. I had a hummer feeder on my front porch. When I went to refill the > feeder I accidentally dropped and broke it. No backup. So I got an olive > jar about 2"x 4"deep, filled it with 'the, 'juice' and fashioned a way to > attach it. That worked fine. The male Rufous just landed on the edge and > sipped away. I sorta forgot about it, but one day, when I returned home, I > happened to glance at the jar and noticed an apparently dead male Rufous, > bill down in the jar, now empty of juice.. I guess it had to dip further > and further down, until it actually fell in. Oh, no. No idea how long it > had been in there, but I knew about torpor, so I cupped it in my hand for > warmth and went into the house. In 5-10 minutes I felt a 'stirring' 5 or > so minutes later, I released it back outside, apparently none the worse for > wear.. Great. > > But, conversely. Years ago, we had 3 or 4 nights here, SE of Portland, > with a low of 6 degrees F. I had a bona fide feeder back on the porch that > I took in during the night so it did not freeze. I got up each morning > when it was just barely light to replace the feeder in case any hummers > were surviving, which seemed unlikely. When I did this the first morning, > a female Anna's immediately flew up from low weeds on the ground 15 feet > away, and started partaking. This repeated the following two nights after > which it warmed up. > Now, this hummer was undoubtedly in Torpor (or not?) during the night, > aided likely by some amount of ground heat to prevent freezing, even in > Torpor. So, > 2. How did the hummer know to spend the night on the ground? > 3. How is it that the hummer was 'awake' at barely first light, as though > waiting for me to replace the feeder. I don't think they can come out of > torpor immediately, can they? > And at 6 degrees I wasn't loitering on my porch, I put the feeder up and > the hummer arrived immediately. > > Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Bob OBrien Portland > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 29 20:35:02 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jim Betz via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 29 20:35:11 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Samish Flats Eagles Galore In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi, ? It seemed like every other tree in the Samish Flats had a Bald Eagle in it today! Many times you could see more than one.? Here's a link to just one photo I took today - taken on the approach to Samish Island.? I saw at least, and perhaps as many as 30 different Bald Eagles today.? A few pairs but mostly alone.? No activity in any of the nests that I saw. https://eamon.smugmug.com/Family-pics-from-jim/Birds-and-Stuff-from-Jim/n-4Cw3NF/Bald-Eagles/i-TSMNhjk/A ? The East 90 had about 20 photogs ... but no SEOWs and only one Harrier in the two hours I was there.? I saw -one- SEOW out near where the eagle pic was taken.? LOTS of ducks this year - in the ditches and puddles and temporary lakes. Also lots of Trumpeters - even in Pond Sterling (pun intended). https://eamon.smugmug.com/Family-pics-from-jim/Birds-and-Stuff-from-Jim/n-4Cw3NF/Ducks-and-Geese-not-white/i-vbCmLTs/A ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jim From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 29 22:34:24 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Vincent Lucas via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 29 22:34:37 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] RFI Wilson Cady Message-ID: Tweets: Does anyone know what?s going on with Wilson Cady? He hasn?t posted anything on Facebook nor have I seen any of his posts on Tweeters in quite a while. Thanks. Vincent Lucas Port Angeles, WA Sent from Gmail Mobile ??? ??? ??? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 29 22:42:25 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Louise via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 29 22:42:39 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Torpor in Hummers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I had similar experiences to you, Bob. I would bring in my feeders at night when it was cold enough to freeze them, then put them out at the first hint of light, and I had hummers leap onto the feeder while it was still in my hand, before I could even hang it. Someone here on tweeters (I forget who) told me that in winter, the hummers will even wake from torpor and feed in the dark, so bringing the feeders in at night can be detrimental to them. So I bought one of the feeder heaters (one of the little lamp bulb versions that puts out just enough heat to stop it from freezing) and I always leave them out. This is the type I have - it just clips onto the bottom of the feeder. I only need it for about one week a year on our area, but it was cheap enough. Louise On Mon, Dec 29, 2025 at 4:08?PM Robert O'Brien via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Over decades of birding I've experienced 'torpor' or 'not' twice. This > seems an appropriate time to discuss them for possible feedback. > > 1. I had a hummer feeder on my front porch. When I went to refill the > feeder I accidentally dropped and broke it. No backup. So I got an olive > jar about 2"x 4"deep, filled it with 'the, 'juice' and fashioned a way to > attach it. That worked fine. The male Rufous just landed on the edge and > sipped away. I sorta forgot about it, but one day, when I returned home, I > happened to glance at the jar and noticed an apparently dead male Rufous, > bill down in the jar, now empty of juice.. I guess it had to dip further > and further down, until it actually fell in. Oh, no. No idea how long it > had been in there, but I knew about torpor, so I cupped it in my hand for > warmth and went into the house. In 5-10 minutes I felt a 'stirring' 5 or > so minutes later, I released it back outside, apparently none the worse for > wear.. Great. > > But, conversely. Years ago, we had 3 or 4 nights here, SE of Portland, > with a low of 6 degrees F. I had a bona fide feeder back on the porch that > I took in during the night so it did not freeze. I got up each morning > when it was just barely light to replace the feeder in case any hummers > were surviving, which seemed unlikely. When I did this the first morning, > a female Anna's immediately flew up from low weeds on the ground 15 feet > away, and started partaking. This repeated the following two nights after > which it warmed up. > Now, this hummer was undoubtedly in Torpor (or not?) during the night, > aided likely by some amount of ground heat to prevent freezing, even in > Torpor. So, > 2. How did the hummer know to spend the night on the ground? > 3. How is it that the hummer was 'awake' at barely first light, as though > waiting for me to replace the feeder. I don't think they can come out of > torpor immediately, can they? > And at 6 degrees I wasn't loitering on my porch, I put the feeder up and > the hummer arrived immediately. > > Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Bob OBrien Portland > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Mon Dec 29 23:33:00 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Robert O'Brien via Tweeters) Date: Mon Dec 29 23:33:15 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Torpor in Hummers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Wow, I had never heard of anyone else who had such an experience.THANKS. This was long ago and I do now have heated feeders. Maybe going out of torpor at or before dawn is normal, even when it is not so cold and even if there are not feeders available. In the wild, that is. And I have had these feeders at night in the cold with the porch light on. I wondered whether they would feed at night but didn't see it. But, I could easily have missed it. Bob On Mon, Dec 29, 2025 at 10:42?PM Louise via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > I had similar experiences to you, Bob. I would bring in my feeders at > night when it was cold enough to freeze them, then put them out at the > first hint of light, and I had hummers leap onto the feeder while it was > still in my hand, before I could even hang it. > > Someone here on tweeters (I forget who) told me that in winter, the > hummers will even wake from torpor and feed in the dark, so bringing the > feeders in at night can be detrimental to them. So I bought one of the > feeder heaters (one of the little lamp bulb versions that puts out just > enough heat to stop it from freezing) and I always leave them out. This is > the type I have - it just clips onto the bottom of the feeder. I only need > it for about one week a year on our area, but it was cheap enough. > > Louise > > On Mon, Dec 29, 2025 at 4:08?PM Robert O'Brien via Tweeters < > tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > >> Over decades of birding I've experienced 'torpor' or 'not' twice. This >> seems an appropriate time to discuss them for possible feedback. >> >> 1. I had a hummer feeder on my front porch. When I went to refill the >> feeder I accidentally dropped and broke it. No backup. So I got an olive >> jar about 2"x 4"deep, filled it with 'the, 'juice' and fashioned a way to >> attach it. That worked fine. The male Rufous just landed on the edge and >> sipped away. I sorta forgot about it, but one day, when I returned home, I >> happened to glance at the jar and noticed an apparently dead male Rufous, >> bill down in the jar, now empty of juice.. I guess it had to dip further >> and further down, until it actually fell in. Oh, no. No idea how long it >> had been in there, but I knew about torpor, so I cupped it in my hand for >> warmth and went into the house. In 5-10 minutes I felt a 'stirring' 5 or >> so minutes later, I released it back outside, apparently none the worse for >> wear.. Great. >> >> But, conversely. Years ago, we had 3 or 4 nights here, SE of Portland, >> with a low of 6 degrees F. I had a bona fide feeder back on the porch that >> I took in during the night so it did not freeze. I got up each morning >> when it was just barely light to replace the feeder in case any hummers >> were surviving, which seemed unlikely. When I did this the first morning, >> a female Anna's immediately flew up from low weeds on the ground 15 feet >> away, and started partaking. This repeated the following two nights after >> which it warmed up. >> Now, this hummer was undoubtedly in Torpor (or not?) during the night, >> aided likely by some amount of ground heat to prevent freezing, even in >> Torpor. So, >> 2. How did the hummer know to spend the night on the ground? >> 3. How is it that the hummer was 'awake' at barely first light, as >> though waiting for me to replace the feeder. I don't think they can come >> out of torpor immediately, can they? >> And at 6 degrees I wasn't loitering on my porch, I put the feeder up and >> the hummer arrived immediately. >> >> Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Bob OBrien Portland >> _______________________________________________ >> Tweeters mailing list >> Tweeters@u.washington.edu >> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters >> > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 30 06:02:36 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Steve Hampton via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 30 06:02:52 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Torpor in Hummers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: One study showed Anna's go into torpor for only about 3-5 hrs per night, so not the whole night. It takes them about 30 minutes to go in and out. See Figure 2 at Spence and Tingley 2021. Body size and environment influence both intraspecific and interspecific variation in daily torpor use across hummingbirds For those new to the topic, or just waking up (!), when hummingbirds are in torpor, their heart rate drops nearly 90%, from about 450 beats per minute down to 50; their body temperature falls from 107?F to as low at 48?F; and they seem to barely breathe. A hummingbird in torpor sits fluffed with its eyes closed, looking nearly lifeless. On Mon, Dec 29, 2025 at 11:33?PM Robert O'Brien via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Wow, I had never heard of anyone else who had such an experience.THANKS. > This was long ago and I do now have heated feeders. > Maybe going out of torpor at or before dawn is normal, even when it is not > so cold and even if there are not feeders available. In the wild, that > is. And I have had these feeders at night in the cold with the porch light > on. I wondered whether they would feed at night but didn't see it. But, I > could easily have missed it. > Bob > > > On Mon, Dec 29, 2025 at 10:42?PM Louise via Tweeters < > tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > >> I had similar experiences to you, Bob. I would bring in my feeders at >> night when it was cold enough to freeze them, then put them out at the >> first hint of light, and I had hummers leap onto the feeder while it was >> still in my hand, before I could even hang it. >> >> Someone here on tweeters (I forget who) told me that in winter, the >> hummers will even wake from torpor and feed in the dark, so bringing the >> feeders in at night can be detrimental to them. So I bought one of the >> feeder heaters (one of the little lamp bulb versions that puts out just >> enough heat to stop it from freezing) and I always leave them out. This is >> the type I have - it just clips onto the bottom of the feeder. I only need >> it for about one week a year on our area, but it was cheap enough. >> >> Louise >> >> On Mon, Dec 29, 2025 at 4:08?PM Robert O'Brien via Tweeters < >> tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: >> >>> Over decades of birding I've experienced 'torpor' or 'not' twice. This >>> seems an appropriate time to discuss them for possible feedback. >>> >>> 1. I had a hummer feeder on my front porch. When I went to refill the >>> feeder I accidentally dropped and broke it. No backup. So I got an olive >>> jar about 2"x 4"deep, filled it with 'the, 'juice' and fashioned a way to >>> attach it. That worked fine. The male Rufous just landed on the edge and >>> sipped away. I sorta forgot about it, but one day, when I returned home, I >>> happened to glance at the jar and noticed an apparently dead male Rufous, >>> bill down in the jar, now empty of juice.. I guess it had to dip further >>> and further down, until it actually fell in. Oh, no. No idea how long it >>> had been in there, but I knew about torpor, so I cupped it in my hand for >>> warmth and went into the house. In 5-10 minutes I felt a 'stirring' 5 or >>> so minutes later, I released it back outside, apparently none the worse for >>> wear.. Great. >>> >>> But, conversely. Years ago, we had 3 or 4 nights here, SE of Portland, >>> with a low of 6 degrees F. I had a bona fide feeder back on the porch that >>> I took in during the night so it did not freeze. I got up each morning >>> when it was just barely light to replace the feeder in case any hummers >>> were surviving, which seemed unlikely. When I did this the first morning, >>> a female Anna's immediately flew up from low weeds on the ground 15 feet >>> away, and started partaking. This repeated the following two nights after >>> which it warmed up. >>> Now, this hummer was undoubtedly in Torpor (or not?) during the night, >>> aided likely by some amount of ground heat to prevent freezing, even in >>> Torpor. So, >>> 2. How did the hummer know to spend the night on the ground? >>> 3. How is it that the hummer was 'awake' at barely first light, as >>> though waiting for me to replace the feeder. I don't think they can come >>> out of torpor immediately, can they? >>> And at 6 degrees I wasn't loitering on my porch, I put the feeder up and >>> the hummer arrived immediately. >>> >>> Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Bob OBrien Portland >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Tweeters mailing list >>> Tweeters@u.washington.edu >>> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Tweeters mailing list >> Tweeters@u.washington.edu >> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters >> > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -- ?Steve Hampton? Port Townsend, WA (qat?y) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 30 07:13:35 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Joan Durgin via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 30 07:13:41 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] RFI Wilson Cady Message-ID: He has significant health issues starting with a brain injury last year from a fall, he doesn?t read or write but he has a very caring wife taking care of him at home. He did attend the Vancouver Audubon chapter 50th anniversary celebration early Dec and spoke about memories of him and several others efforts in starting the Vancouver Audubon Chapter all while trying to conserve property east of Washougal that is now the Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge. This group did a bird survey for 365 days in a row on this property that was planned for development. Joan Durgin Camas, WA > On Dec 29, 2025, at 10:34?PM, Vincent Lucas via Tweeters wrote: > ? > Tweets: > > Does anyone know what?s going on with Wilson Cady? He hasn?t posted anything on Facebook nor have I seen any of his posts on Tweeters in quite a while. Thanks. > > Vincent Lucas > Port Angeles, WA > > Sent from Gmail Mobile ??? ??? ??? > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 30 09:00:11 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Tom Benedict via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 30 09:00:26 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Torpor in Hummers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <5CE13B9A-4EF0-4DF7-AAC3-E0BB4C8B5D3B@comcast.net> I think that hummingbird vision, maybe all bird vision, extends further into the infrared range than human, so even though we see ?dark? they see ?light?. Tom Benedict Seahurst, WA > On Dec 29, 2025, at 22:42, Louise via Tweeters wrote: > > I had similar experiences to you, Bob. I would bring in my feeders at night when it was cold enough to freeze them, then put them out at the first hint of light, and I had hummers leap onto the feeder while it was still in my hand, before I could even hang it. > > Someone here on tweeters (I forget who) told me that in winter, the hummers will even wake from torpor and feed in the dark, so bringing the feeders in at night can be detrimental to them. So I bought one of the feeder heaters (one of the little lamp bulb versions that puts out just enough heat to stop it from freezing) and I always leave them out. This is the type I have - it just clips onto the bottom of the feeder. I only need it for about one week a year on our area, but it was cheap enough. > > Louise > > On Mon, Dec 29, 2025 at 4:08?PM Robert O'Brien via Tweeters > wrote: >> Over decades of birding I've experienced 'torpor' or 'not' twice. This seems an appropriate time to discuss them for possible feedback. >> >> 1. I had a hummer feeder on my front porch. When I went to refill the feeder I accidentally dropped and broke it. No backup. So I got an olive jar about 2"x 4"deep, filled it with 'the, 'juice' and fashioned a way to attach it. That worked fine. The male Rufous just landed on the edge and sipped away. I sorta forgot about it, but one day, when I returned home, I happened to glance at the jar and noticed an apparently dead male Rufous, bill down in the jar, now empty of juice.. I guess it had to dip further and further down, until it actually fell in. Oh, no. No idea how long it had been in there, but I knew about torpor, so I cupped it in my hand for warmth and went into the house. In 5-10 minutes I felt a 'stirring' 5 or so minutes later, I released it back outside, apparently none the worse for wear.. Great. >> >> But, conversely. Years ago, we had 3 or 4 nights here, SE of Portland, with a low of 6 degrees F. I had a bona fide feeder back on the porch that I took in during the night so it did not freeze. I got up each morning when it was just barely light to replace the feeder in case any hummers were surviving, which seemed unlikely. When I did this the first morning, a female Anna's immediately flew up from low weeds on the ground 15 feet away, and started partaking. This repeated the following two nights after which it warmed up. >> Now, this hummer was undoubtedly in Torpor (or not?) during the night, aided likely by some amount of ground heat to prevent freezing, even in Torpor. So, >> 2. How did the hummer know to spend the night on the ground? >> 3. How is it that the hummer was 'awake' at barely first light, as though waiting for me to replace the feeder. I don't think they can come out of torpor immediately, can they? >> And at 6 degrees I wasn't loitering on my porch, I put the feeder up and the hummer arrived immediately. >> >> Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Bob OBrien Portland > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 30 12:17:59 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Jerry Neufeld-Kaiser via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 30 12:18:17 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Taiga flycatcher in Vancouver Message-ID: Tweets, I was lucky enough to be visiting friends on BC coast when I heard of the mega-rarity in Vancouver: a taiga flycatcher. These birds winter in southern Asia and summer in Siberia, and this is apparently only the 2nd North American record ever. I was passing through Vancouver, and yes I did re-route to the Aquatic Center to find it. I stood with a couple dozen hopefuls for an hour or so hoping it would show itself. About 4:10 with the light starting to dim, I got a tip from a photographer I'd chatted with. (Big thank you to whoever that was!) So another birder and I walked a couple blocks to where we'd just been told the bird had been, and after a bit, there it was. I had the pleasure of being the one to find it and then helping some others get looks at it, for about 10 minutes, as it moved steadily down a long fence, flycatching and showing its tail, before it flew off. Perfect. Victory is even better when it's snatched from the jaws of defeat. Jerry Neufeld-Kaiser (Whitney's driver) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 30 19:29:06 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Kenneth Brown via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 30 19:29:11 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Torpor in Hummers In-Reply-To: <5CE13B9A-4EF0-4DF7-AAC3-E0BB4C8B5D3B@comcast.net> References: <5CE13B9A-4EF0-4DF7-AAC3-E0BB4C8B5D3B@comcast.net> Message-ID: <727204094.92853.1767151746465@connect.xfinity.com> Many birds can see in the ultraviolet spectrum, I don't think they see infrared light. > On 12/30/2025 9:00 AM PST Tom Benedict via Tweeters wrote: > > > I think that hummingbird vision, maybe all bird vision, extends further into the infrared range than human, so even though we see ?dark? they see ?light?. > > Tom Benedict > Seahurst, WA > > > > On Dec 29, 2025, at 22:42, Louise via Tweeters wrote: > > I had similar experiences to you, Bob. I would bring in my feeders at night when it was cold enough to freeze them, then put them out at the first hint of light, and I had hummers leap onto the feeder while it was still in my hand, before I could even hang it. > > > > Someone here on tweeters (I forget who) told me that in winter, the hummers will even wake from torpor and feed in the dark, so bringing the feeders in at night can be detrimental to them. So I bought one of the feeder heaters (one of the little lamp bulb versions that puts out just enough heat to stop it from freezing) and I always leave them out. This is the type I have - it just clips onto the bottom of the feeder. I only need it for about one week a year on our area, but it was cheap enough. > > > > Louise > > > > On Mon, Dec 29, 2025 at 4:08?PM Robert O'Brien via Tweeters wrote: > > > > > Over decades of birding I've experienced 'torpor' or 'not' twice. This seems an appropriate time to discuss them for possible feedback. > > > > > > 1. I had a hummer feeder on my front porch. When I went to refill the feeder I accidentally dropped and broke it. No backup. So I got an olive jar about 2"x 4"deep, filled it with 'the, 'juice' and fashioned a way to attach it. That worked fine. The male Rufous just landed on the edge and sipped away. I sorta forgot about it, but one day, when I returned home, I happened to glance at the jar and noticed an apparently dead male Rufous, bill down in the jar, now empty of juice.. I guess it had to dip further and further down, until it actually fell in. Oh, no. No idea how long it had been in there, but I knew about torpor, so I cupped it in my hand for warmth and went into the house. In 5-10 minutes I felt a 'stirring' 5 or so minutes later, I released it back outside, apparently none the worse for wear.. Great. > > > > > > But, conversely. Years ago, we had 3 or 4 nights here, SE of Portland, with a low of 6 degrees F. I had a bona fide feeder back on the porch that I took in during the night so it did not freeze. I got up each morning when it was just barely light to replace the feeder in case any hummers were surviving, which seemed unlikely. When I did this the first morning, a female Anna's immediately flew up from low weeds on the ground 15 feet away, and started partaking. This repeated the following two nights after which it warmed up. > > > Now, this hummer was undoubtedly in Torpor (or not?) during the night, aided likely by some amount of ground heat to prevent freezing, even in Torpor. So, > > > 2. How did the hummer know to spend the night on the ground? > > > 3. How is it that the hummer was 'awake' at barely first light, as though waiting for me to replace the feeder. I don't think they can come out of torpor immediately, can they? > > > And at 6 degrees I wasn't loitering on my porch, I put the feeder up and the hummer arrived immediately. > > > > > > Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Bob OBrien Portland > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 30 19:50:09 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Tom Benedict via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 30 19:50:26 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Torpor in Hummers In-Reply-To: <727204094.92853.1767151746465@connect.xfinity.com> References: <5CE13B9A-4EF0-4DF7-AAC3-E0BB4C8B5D3B@comcast.net> <727204094.92853.1767151746465@connect.xfinity.com> Message-ID: <2B226472-7CD5-4203-B9DC-EF1867BC2BBA@comcast.net> Thanks for adding some expertise to my speculation Kenneth. I shudda done a little research before posting. Seems that hummingbirds don?t have any special nigh vision powers, but they may be helped by their extra cones and color vision thanks to their expanded UV range. Tom Benedict Seahurst, WA > On Dec 30, 2025, at 19:29, Kenneth Brown wrote: > > Many birds can see in the ultraviolet spectrum, I don't think they see infrared light. >> On 12/30/2025 9:00 AM PST Tom Benedict via Tweeters wrote: >> >> >> I think that hummingbird vision, maybe all bird vision, extends further into the infrared range than human, so even though we see ?dark? they see ?light?. >> >> Tom Benedict >> Seahurst, WA >> >>> On Dec 29, 2025, at 22:42, Louise via Tweeters wrote: >>> I had similar experiences to you, Bob. I would bring in my feeders at night when it was cold enough to freeze them, then put them out at the first hint of light, and I had hummers leap onto the feeder while it was still in my hand, before I could even hang it. >>> >>> Someone here on tweeters (I forget who) told me that in winter, the hummers will even wake from torpor and feed in the dark, so bringing the feeders in at night can be detrimental to them. So I bought one of the feeder heaters (one of the little lamp bulb versions that puts out just enough heat to stop it from freezing) and I always leave them out. This is the type I have - it just clips onto the bottom of the feeder. I only need it for about one week a year on our area, but it was cheap enough. >>> >>> Louise >>> >>> On Mon, Dec 29, 2025 at 4:08?PM Robert O'Brien via Tweeters > wrote: >>> Over decades of birding I've experienced 'torpor' or 'not' twice. This seems an appropriate time to discuss them for possible feedback. >>> >>> 1. I had a hummer feeder on my front porch. When I went to refill the feeder I accidentally dropped and broke it. No backup. So I got an olive jar about 2"x 4"deep, filled it with 'the, 'juice' and fashioned a way to attach it. That worked fine. The male Rufous just landed on the edge and sipped away. I sorta forgot about it, but one day, when I returned home, I happened to glance at the jar and noticed an apparently dead male Rufous, bill down in the jar, now empty of juice.. I guess it had to dip further and further down, until it actually fell in. Oh, no. No idea how long it had been in there, but I knew about torpor, so I cupped it in my hand for warmth and went into the house. In 5-10 minutes I felt a 'stirring' 5 or so minutes later, I released it back outside, apparently none the worse for wear.. Great. >>> >>> But, conversely. Years ago, we had 3 or 4 nights here, SE of Portland, with a low of 6 degrees F. I had a bona fide feeder back on the porch that I took in during the night so it did not freeze. I got up each morning when it was just barely light to replace the feeder in case any hummers were surviving, which seemed unlikely. When I did this the first morning, a female Anna's immediately flew up from low weeds on the ground 15 feet away, and started partaking. This repeated the following two nights after which it warmed up. >>> Now, this hummer was undoubtedly in Torpor (or not?) during the night, aided likely by some amount of ground heat to prevent freezing, even in Torpor. So, >>> 2. How did the hummer know to spend the night on the ground? >>> 3. How is it that the hummer was 'awake' at barely first light, as though waiting for me to replace the feeder. I don't think they can come out of torpor immediately, can they? >>> And at 6 degrees I wasn't loitering on my porch, I put the feeder up and the hummer arrived immediately. >>> >>> Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Bob OBrien Portland >> _______________________________________________ >> Tweeters mailing list >> Tweeters@u.washington.edu >> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 30 21:29:57 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Carol Riddell via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 30 21:30:14 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Personal Health Information Message-ID: <8B3771AA-1582-4527-9292-CEC29837E3AF@gmail.com> Hi Tweets, I know the question was asked with curiosity and concern, and it was answered from a place of very good intent. But I think we all need to keep in mind that health information is personal to the individual and oftentimes very private. We also need to keep in mind that Tweeters is not a closed list serv. Anything posted on it can be viewed by anyone in the world with an internet connection. And there are increasing numbers of bots that harvest personal information from the internet to be used for nefarious purposes including identity theft. Many of us are aging and at some point we will all age out of the birding hobby. When questions are asked about the status of another birder, it is probably best to provide your email address in the post (anyone at email dot com) and ask for an offline reply. I think we also need to all keep in mind that we should not share health information without the consent of the individual or a member of that person?s family. I wish we didn?t need to be so guarded, but the internet is rife with criminals and Tweeters can have personal information harvested by bad actors or bots. This is particularly so when an individual has a somewhat unique name that can be linked to a particular location. With a name, address, and information that an individual may not be in control of their physical abilities or mental capacities, bad things can happen. Respectfully, Carol Riddell Edmonds, WA From tweeters at u.washington.edu Tue Dec 30 22:17:47 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (B B via Tweeters) Date: Tue Dec 30 22:17:52 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Last Blog Post - Costa Rica Trip December 2025 References: <452075438.2950735.1767161867801.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <452075438.2950735.1767161867801@mail.yahoo.com> Here is the second and last blog post of our trip with Greg Homel and Natural Encounters Birding Tours.? Lots of photos. https://blairbirding.com/2025/12/31/costa-rica-then-and-now-part-2/ Blair Bernson -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 31 08:19:01 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 31 08:19:04 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] =?utf-8?q?REMINDER=3A_WOS_Monthly_Meeting=2C_January_5?= =?utf-8?q?=2C_2026_=28on-line_only=29_=2E=2E=2E_also_please_note?= =?utf-8?q?=3A_Jan_26?= Message-ID: <20251231161901.3455021.qmail@s401.sureserver.com> The Washington Ornithological Society (WOS) is pleased to announce our next Monthly Meeting: on Monday, January 5, 2026, Phil Mitchell will present, "Learning to be a Better Birder in the Age of AI.? Today, with a suite of AI-powered apps such as Merlin and iNaturalist, we are quickly able to identify birds, plants and other animals. Online or in-person courses may enhance our knowledge about sparrows, shorebirds and hawks. But what does it take to actually learn and retain the knowledge that enriches our birding? This talk will be an intro to the science of learning as it applies to becoming a better birder, along with a survey of the related birding apps. Phil Mitchell has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and is a Seattle resident and avid naturalist. He combines academic research on how best to learn, with his 20+ years? experience as a software developer to create learning apps. He is the founder and learning expert for the app ?Larkwire.? Introduced in 2012, Larkwire helps birders learn sounds, visual ID and bird topography. This meeting will be conducted virtually, via Zoom (no in-person attendance). Sign-in will begin at 7:15 pm, and the meeting commences at 7:30 pm. Please go to the WOS Monthly Meetings page: https://wos.org/monthly-meetings/ for instructions on participation and to get the Zoom link. When joining the meeting, we ask that you mute your device and make certain that your camera is turned off. This meeting is open to all as WOS invites everyone in the wider birding community to attend. Thanks to the generosity of our presenters, recordings of past programs are available at the following link to the WOS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@washingtonornithologicalso7839/videos If you are not yet a member of WOS, we hope you will consider becoming one at https://wos.org Please join us! SPECIAL NOTE: Due to a date conflict, the February 2026 Monthly Meeting will take place one week earlier, on January 26. Please mark your calendars. Elaine Chuang WOS Program Support From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 31 13:20:07 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (BRAD Liljequist via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 31 13:20:13 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Flock of 34 Harlequins at mouth of Sequim Bay last night Message-ID: Hi all, I did a bit of a walkabout (ok, well, driveabout) on the Olympic Peninsula Monday Tuesday and had a lovely time (thanks for Steve and Bob for tips). Great to see the building estuary at the mouth of the Elwha. A favorite, underrated spot is the Port Williams County Park and the walk down Gibson Spit. A highlight: At dusk yesterday I was treated to seeing a flock of 34 Harlequins in the tidal rip that forms between Gibson and Travis Spits. It seemed like the various smaller groups convened there at the end of the day and then one larger group (~20) departed for I'm guessing an offshore overnight float. Lovely to see and wonderful to think about how it was likely constituted by various pairs that nest up the nooks and crannies of the Olympics... Brad Liljequist Phinney Ridge, Seattle, WA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 31 13:47:41 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Chuq Von Rospach via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 31 13:47:45 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] =?utf-8?q?Harris=E2=80=99_Sparrow=2C_Port_Gamble?= Message-ID: I haven?t seen this mentioned here so I thought I?d pass it along. There?s a continuing Harris? Sparrow being seen in Port Gamble. The eBird hotspot is here: https://ebird.org/hotspot/L296606 The bird seems to be sticking to a fairly small area; if you drive through town and down towards the kayak place on the water, when you hit the flat to the right is a jumble of boulders. Beyond that is the hill area back up towards the town, and the bird is hanging out in that area with White- and Golden-crowned sparrows. It?s fairly reliable, when I went down there it came out after about ten minutes, but also rather furtive. You?ll see an orange traffic cone in the scrub, it seems to be in and around that area most of the time. It?s an easy ID once you see it among the sparrows as well (even for me). It looks like it?ll be sticking for a bit, since I think it?s been seen for almost a week. (And if you?re looking for refreshment, strongly recommend Butcher and Baker, back on the main road across from the main town area, for coffee/pastry and interesting foods while you?re there) Also take some time looking around the water near the Kayak place and along the shore, there have been Black Scoters there along with the more common and fun birds you might expect. Also, perhaps, Long-Tailed Duck since I had two a couple of weeks ago Chuq --------------------------------------- Chuq Von Rospach (http://www.chuq.me) Silverdale, Washington Birder, Nature and Wildlife Photographer Email me at: chuqvr@gmail.com Mastodon: @chuqvr@fosstodon.org Stay Updated with what I'm doing: https://www.chuq.me/6fps/ My latest e-book: https://www.chuq.me/ebooks -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 31 15:37:58 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Matt Bartels via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 31 15:38:13 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Seattle CBC results [14 Dec 2025] Message-ID: <11B2BFA7-3195-44C9-93E0-098DCEA3B1B8@earthlink.net> 2025 Seattle Christmas Bird Count 14 December 2025 130 species tallied (count day + count week) Count day: 119 species Count week: 11 additional species Individual birds: 54, 086 [52, 332 in-field, 1,754 at feeders] Observers: 322 [281 in field + 46 feeder watchers] Overview The 2025 Seattle CBC was held on December 14, 2025, organized once again by Birds Connect Seattle. We had warm weather and a nice break from the atmospheric rivers of rain that came soon after. Our species total of 130 was a bit above the 10-year average of 127. Our overall count of 54,086 birds likewise was our second highest number of birds recorded of the past decade of counts, and over 1,000 more than we found in 2024. With 322 observers including 46 at feeders and 281 in the field, we had over 300 participants for only the third time in our 100+ years of Seattle CBCs. Highlights The highlight birds of this year?s count included a Seattle CBC first Summer Tanager near Discovery Park, a Short-tailed Shearwater in the Puget Sound (only the third time we?ve had them on the CBC), and our first Green Heron on the count in a decade. Count-week-only highlights included American Bittern, Lesser Goldfinch and Red Crossbill. Notable misses We always miss a few, and this year was no exception. Notable misses included: Snow Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose (missed once in the last decade of CBCs), Tundra Swan, Spotted Sandpipe (first time missed in 25 years!), Marbled Murrelet, Great Horned Owl (first miss in a decade), Evening Grosbeak and Western Tanager. Record high counts For the modern period (1972-present), high counts were recorded for six species. We set record highs for: Short-tailed Shearwater [1], Pelagic Cormorant [153], Cooper?s Hawk [44], Pileated Woodpecker [26], Pacific Wren [331] and Summer Tanager [1]. Trends Looking at trends over time, here?s how a few groups fared. [numbers in brackets indicate the total number seen and the percentage as a ratio of the 10-year average on the count. Species with a record-high count are noted with an *. For example, a note of ?[100, 50%]? would indicate that 100 individuals were seen, and that this is just 50% of the norm for the past 10 years (the average # seen from 2014-2024 has been 200). Ducks & geese Goose & swan numbers were mixed. On the one hand, we totally missed Snow Geese, Greater White-fronted Geese and Tundra Swans this year. But numbers for the geese and swans that were found came in with above-average numbers: Brant [99, 107%], Cackling Geese [389, 160%], Canada Geese [1782, 148%] and Trumpeter Swans [34, 204%]. Dabbling ducks, in general came in below their 10-year average once again this year. The only dabblers above average were Mallard [2094, 144%] and Northern Pintail [221, 302%]. Species with lower-than-average numbers included Wood Duck [36, 57%], Northern Shoveler [50, 37%], Gadwall [456, 82%], Eurasian Wigeon [5, 54%], American Wigeon [2026, 86%] and Green-winged Teal [37, 35%]. Diving ducks showed totals close to average overall, with a few a bit higher and a few a bit lower. Coming in higher than average: Ring-necked Duck [624, 121%], Greater Scaup [130, 118%] and White-winged Scoter [6, 125%]. Noticeably below-average numbers were reported for Canvasback [67, 46%], Lesser Scaup [78, 42%], Black Scoter [Count Week only], Bufflehead [531, 82%] and Red-breasted Merganser [265, 82%]. Grebes, hummingbirds and coots For the third year running, Western Grebes [655, 167%] were found in strong numbers. In contrast all other grebes came in below their usual numbers. Most notably Pied-billed Grebe [150, 75%] and Horned Grebe [218, 78%] were well below average and we found Eared Grebe only as a count week bird. Anna?s Hummingbird [823, 148%] were out in force in the good weather, and American Coot [7081, 94%] did about average for the count. Shorebirds, alcids & gulls Killdeer [84, 200%] numbers were high, while Surfbird [23, 48%], Sanderling [3, 3%], and Wilson?s Snipe [5, 52%] numbers were below average. As an added bonus, we found Long-billed Dowitcher as a count-week bird, the first time that species has made the Seattle CBC since 1980. Our alcid numbers were decent this year, except for missing murrelets. After only 14 last year, we saw 119 Common Murre [119, 380%] this year. Pigeon Guillemot [47 100%] were right on their average, and Rhinoceros Auklet [62, 152%] were a little high. Bonaparte?s Gulls were out in force [94, 463%], our highest count in over 30 years. We had a late Heerman?s Gull for only our sixth time in the last 40 years. Other gulls were mostly a bit low ? notably, both American Herring Gull and Western Gull were only picked up as count week birds and we had only one Iceland Gull [1, 38%]. Loons & cormorants Loons were found in decent numbers this year, with both Red-throated Loon [33, 210%] and Common Loon [12, 154%] appearing at their best total of the past ten years. The cormorant story was split, much like last year: One species came in very low: Brandt?s Cormorant [57, 34%]. One came in right on average: Double-crested Cormorant [815, 99%]. And one came in at record high levels: Pelagic Cormorant [153*, 221%] Raptors and owls With the exception of Cooper?s Hawk [44*, 177%], and Merlin [16, 150%], raptors numbers were a bit low this year: Bald Eagle [99, 89%], Sharp-shinned Hawk [6, 81%], Red-tailed Hawk [26, 68%], and Peregrine Falcon [1, 12%]. Owl numbers were low this year, with only Barred Owl [11, 122%] coming in above average. Besides that, we found just one American Barn Owl [1, 31%], one Northern Saw-whet Owl [1, 37%] and no Great Horned Owls. Woodpeckers With the exception of Red-breasted Sapsucker [1, 11%, our lowest # since 1999], woodpeckers were present and found in above-average numbers, including Downy Woodpecker [106. 127%], Hairy Woodpecker [16, 184%], Northern Flicker [453, 126%] and Pileated Woodpecker [26*, 157%]. Chickadees, wrens & kinglets Our totals for some of the ?little? species remained close to their normal totals. Those doing well above average included: Chestnut-backed Chickadee [559, 133%], Brown Creeper [160, 147%] and Pacific Wren [331*, 171%]. Thrush & waxwing As discussed on Tweeters and elsewhere, the slow arrival of snow and freezing temperatures up high seems to have allowed the Varied Thrush [21, 17%] to remain largely absent down here this year and we tallied our lowest total in over 30 years as a result. Hermit Thrush [15, 98%] and American Robin [3592, 135%] were doing fine, and it was great once again to have a Townsend?s Solitaire on the count, a species we see at about half of our CBCs. After setting a record last year in the count, Cedar Waxwing [67, 33%] were scarce this year. Finches A few finch species were largely absent this year, while others seemed present in normal numbers. We missed Evening Grosbeak completely and only added Red Crossbill as a count-week bird. We?ve only had this few Pine Siskin [49, 4%] three times in the last 40 years of the survey. On the other side, House Finch [784, 100%] and American Goldfinch [504, 103%] were right at their normal numbers. A count week Lesser Goldfinch was an added bonus, only our third time we?ve found that species on the Seattle CBC. Sparrows The good weather made sparrow-finding easier this year, and many species tallied above-average numbers including Dark-eyed Junco [2438, 126%], White-crowned Sparrow [120, 138%], White-throated Sparrow [9, 159%] and Song Sparrow [1077, 121%]. Only Fox Sparrow [82, 72%] and Lincoln?s Sparrow [4, 39%] came in well below average. Warblers Orange-crowned Warblers [7, 119%] and Yellow-rumped Warblers [341, 112%] were a little above average, and Townsend?s Warblers [16, 86%] came in a little low this year. A count week Wilson?s Warbler rounded out our warbler tally for the year. All in all, it was once again a fun day seeing what can be found when over 300 participants come together in a small circle for a day of birding. Thanks to all the participants who contributed to this year?s count. We?ll have a full list of the results posted on the Birds Connect Seattle website in the new year Good birding, Matt Bartels Seattle, WA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 31 17:53:21 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Robert O'Brien via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 31 17:53:35 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Taiga flycatcher in Vancouver In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sorry, but as usual I just couldn't resist. =============================================== *Every Bird Has a Story..* Well, not everyone does, but this one does. For me, anyhow. Taiga Flycatcher, ( a great NA rarity now in Vancouver BC); formerly called Red-throated Flycatcher. Now split. Long ago, I had a business meeting in Hokkaido, Japan. . My wife was invited.. After the meeting we went to stay at a B&B run by a Japanese Birder. We arrived in the afternoon for dinner. Next morning I got up just at first light and walked along the nearby roads looking for birds. No camera, light was far too dim. Misty, light rain. A ;small thrush flew across the road and landed. Looked and behaved just like a Hermit Thrush, but the spots, instead, were rings, like bubbles sorta. Pretty distinctive. Easy to ID from my Japan field guide Cool. I knew nothing of its detailed status but it seemed to be somewhat rare.and this was migration time. Headed North? Upon returning to the B&B for breakfast I told the 'Keeper' of the B&B of my sighting, showed the picture in the Field Guide. His English wasn't great, hut be could understand the picture. He seemed skeptical. Not a great surprise. So then we asked about further, nearby birding and the host told us about a nearby small park that would have migrants. We went. We soon discovered a small flycatcher with a red throat. Easy to ID from the book. Red-throated Flycatcher, now Taiga. The light was good, the bird was tame and I got some photos. We returned to the B&B and I showed him the Field Guide picture of what we saw, the flycatcher.. Skepticism reigned supreme. No surprises there either. Returning to the US I scanned the slides and emailed him a photo. No response via email. No surprise there either. 5-10 years later I was looking at bird books in the famous Powell's Bookstore, a very large Bird Book Selection. There was a new book by Mark Brazil. An Anglo with a lot of experience in Japanese birding. This was a review of all birds recorded for Japan. In English. Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I thought . I wonder...................................? I opened the book to Red-breasted Flycatcher. Yep, I got that right. There was my record with the correct date, attributed to ..... you know who. And, of course, no mention of me. No surprise there either. I bought Brazil's book at Powell's and I have the scanned photo. I'm satisfied. Bob OBrien Portland On Tue, Dec 30, 2025 at 12:18?PM Jerry Neufeld-Kaiser via Tweeters < tweeters@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Tweets, I was lucky enough to be visiting friends on BC coast when I heard > of the mega-rarity in Vancouver: a taiga flycatcher. These birds winter in > southern Asia and summer in Siberia, and this is apparently only the 2nd > North American record ever. I was passing through Vancouver, and yes I did > re-route to the Aquatic Center to find it. I stood with a couple dozen > hopefuls for an hour or so hoping it would show itself. About 4:10 with > the light starting to dim, I got a tip from a photographer I'd chatted > with. (Big thank you to whoever that was!) So another birder and I walked > a couple blocks to where we'd just been told the bird had been, and after a > bit, there it was. I had the pleasure of being the one to find it and then > helping some others get looks at it, for about 10 minutes, as it moved > steadily down a long fence, flycatching and showing its tail, before it > flew off. Perfect. Victory is even better when it's snatched from the > jaws of defeat. > > Jerry Neufeld-Kaiser (Whitney's driver) > _______________________________________________ > Tweeters mailing list > Tweeters@u.washington.edu > http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tweeters at u.washington.edu Wed Dec 31 18:30:35 2025 From: tweeters at u.washington.edu (Dan Reiff via Tweeters) Date: Wed Dec 31 18:31:00 2025 Subject: [Tweeters] Annual Christmas owl surveys and song Message-ID: <2C6590F0-4C55-4DBC-8D20-3781CFC4E312@gmail.com> Hello Tweeters community, Each year, I begin doing owl surveys beginning Christmas day- always a little early in the seasons to find them. Well after dark, my wife calls me to check to ask if I have found them. Standing in the forest in the darkness, I answer by sadly singing the beginning of my adaptation of a Christmas song: ? NoooOwl, NoooOwl? NoooOwl, NoooOwl?.? Best regards, Dan Sent from my iPhone