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Wow! Nice list and good news! </div>
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Now Dune-rs will have to reach 229! </div>
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I hope you'll share this at our celebration meeting on Jan 21 at 5:30 to 7 (darn library's restricted hours)! It's only fitting that the originator of the 253 list and one of the early champions should be there. Maybe with a mug for the drink.</div>
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Now about Craig, I still don't know him. Could you talk him into coming?</div>
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Diane</div>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> Tweeters <tweeters-bounces@mailman11.u.washington.edu> on behalf of Marcus Roening via Tweeters <tweeters@u.washington.edu><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, January 2, 2026 6:51 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Tweeters <tweeters@u.washington.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Tweeters] This Year’s Inductee to the 253 Club</font>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Hi Tweets,<br>
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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>
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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></p>
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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></p>
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<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></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">New Pierce County Big Year Record – 246 species by Craig Miller</span></p>
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<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></p>
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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>
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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></p>
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<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></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Bryan Hansen 2023 – Black-legged Kittiwake</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Scott Saunders 2023 – Tufted Puffin</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Craig Miller 2023 – Nazca Booby</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Michael Hobbs 2024 – Marbled Godwit</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.5pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Ryan Shaw 2025 – Short-tailed Shearwater<br>
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Good birding to all in the New Year,<br>
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Marcus Roening Tacoma WA, The 253 - Pierce County </span></p>
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<div dir="ltr"><span style="background-color:rgba(255,255,255,0)"><b>Marcus Roening</b><br>
Tacoma WA</span></div>
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