<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Hi Tweets,<br><br>Congratulations to our newest 2025 member of the 253 Club, here in Pierce<br>County - Area Code 253. By achieving this lofty mile stone, new members are entitled to a beverage of their choice from yours truly!<br><br>Ryan Shaw #253 - finding a Short-tailed Shearwater off of Dune during the massive influx of these wonderful tubenoses into Puget Sound waters. Massive extra credit for achieving this goal while living in Texas!</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br>Dune Peninsula at Point Defiance Park, continues to be the spot to see pelagic birds from land. With a sweeping view to Des Moines to the Northeast, Commencement Bay to the East and Dalco Passage to the Northwest, it is the #1 eBird Hotspot in Pierce County with 229 species seen. Accessed near Point Ruston, this park was created in 2019. Amazingly, this year tallied all 3 Shearwaters: Short-tailed, Sooty and Manx and a shocking trifecta of Storm-Petrels: Fork-tailed, Leach’s & Wilson’s (the latter under WBRC review).</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Unfortunately, the 5 Mile Drive that went around the tip of Point Defiance has<br>been closed to cars due to severe erosion of the bluffs, but it is still a wonderful place to bike and walk - now without cars.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">New Pierce County Big Year Record – 246 species by Craig Miller</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Special Kudos to Craig, for surpassing Will Brook’s Pierce County record of 243 species, with a final Tundra Swan on Lake Tapps in the last week of the year. I can attest to his many hours out in the field and up in the mountains. The most amazing sighting that I personally witnessed with him was of a White-tailed Ptarmigan off of Panorama Point on Mount Rainier. While it is possible to see ptarmigan right off the trail, it is a rare occurrence, often requiring as many as 6 dedicated trips. Craig had carried his scope all the way up the snow field in June with us and found the bird a 1000 feet below us off of Pebble Creek! Certainly not identifiable with binoculars and an amazing find. </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br>For completeness, here are the prior 253 members as divined by a combination of eBird and WA Birder records. And for those below who’d like to share, let me know your 253th bird and any story you’d like to share. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br>Patrick Sullivan <2007<br>Charlie Wright 2011<br>Bruce LaBar 2014<br>Marcus Roening 2016 - Cassin’s Auklet<br>Ed Pullen 2017<br>Mike Charest 2017<br>Heather Ballash 2021 - Barred Owl</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Tom Mansfield 2021<br>Wayne Sladek 2021<br>Peter Wimberger 2021<br>Heather Voboril 2022<br>Will Brooks 2022</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Bryan Hansen 2023 – Black-legged Kittiwake</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Scott Saunders 2023 – Tufted Puffin</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Craig Miller 2023 – Nazca Booby</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Michael Hobbs 2024 – Marbled Godwit</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Ryan Shaw 2025 – Short-tailed Shearwater<br><br>Good birding to all in the New Year,<br><br>Marcus Roening Tacoma WA, The 253 - Pierce County </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 0in; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;"> </p><div dir="ltr"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Marcus Roening</b><br>Tacoma WA</span></div></body></html>