Yesterday I walked the perimeter of Pintail Marsh at ANWR south of Salem, and saw the BREWER'S SPARROW that I saw there a week ago, in the exact same spot - the little guardrail above the water gate at the very corner of Pintail Marsh, next to the RR tracks at the opposite end from the parking lot. Today, almost as soon as I got there, Jim Kopitzke told me he had just seen the same bird, in the exact same spot. He also reported seeing the continuing SOLITARY SANDPIPER in the corner of Duckflat and Hunsaker Rds, east of there. I think he will report on that. Soon after that I ran into Don Berg and his two sons Andrew and Jonathan Reimer-Berg, who already at ages 14 (today, and 15) seem like pretty good birders. Good eyes, they are observant, and they have a grasp of local birds. Their dad, Don, is one of Salem's finest: an excellent Math/Science teacher and a pretty good birder in his own right so it is not surprising. We walked the perimeter, and stopped or slowed where the BRSP has been. It wasn't evident. Then one of the boys saw it fly up from the low Himalaya tangle under the guardrail to the guardrail then we all saw it fly across the road into a willow and all got good looks then. I doubt there have been many BRSP sightings in Marion Co. I don't know, did Steve Dowlan find them when he was banding at Mike's Meadows (not the same thing, his spot was near 5000' in the Cascades near Ollalie Meadows, so could be a different bird - maybe Timberline or Northern vs. the Southern Brewer's Sparrow that we are likely seeing here). Later we saw a flight of 50 or more BAND-TAILED PIGEONS flying south overhead. That was a first for me. 5 GREAT EGRETS, 2 GREEN HERONS, few swallows other than BARN SWALLOWs, a WILLOW FLYCATCHER, and WOOD DUCKS seem to have done well this year. Roy Gerig, Salem OR John Lennon - In His Own Write. Read it.