Spotted Sandpiper – one of a handful of species we saw in every State we visited. This one, in summer plumage, is easy to separate from our own Common Sandpiper, but in winter they are much more tricky. Now that would be something special to find at Felbrigg!

Today is our final day in the USA – we fly from Seattle to Manchester, via Iceland, this afternoon. By the time we’ve driven from our comfortable and well-located base for the past three days in Hoquiam, ‘Lumber capital of America’, to the airport, returned the hire car and checked in, there is very little time for birding, but we do hope to make one last stop in search of a particular species which has evaded us for the entire trip! On the whole there have been very few species which we have missed along the way but inevitably there’s been some. We’ve ‘twitched’ quite a few American rarities and managed to connect with a lot of the regional specialities as we’ve made our way north. Some of the long-distant migrants have followed us (or rather, we’ve followed them) from Mexico to the Canadian border. Other widely distributed species have, of course, popped up everywhere. Surprisingly perhaps, during our journey from east to west and south to north, we’ve only visited seven States and one of them – New Mexico, we drove through in a day. Nevertheless there’s half a dozen or so species which we recorded in every State, which include:

Red-winged Blackbird

Turkey Vulture – photo courtesy of Jane

Black-headed Grosbeak

Cedar Waxwing

and Lesser Goldfinch

There’s a lot more editing to do before I get my photographic record of GABRAT into shape, but it’s a pleasant task, bringing back instant memories of hundreds of birding encounters we’ve had over the last two months.