What a frosty gem of a day. It was only TEN DEGREES at
8AM, but the sun was shining, there was no fog except the merest wisps
over the slough, and it was windless. We were "shakin' our little
HOTTiES" to stay warm, but the sun and the abundant birds helped too.
It seemed there were birds everywhere for most of the morning. Nothing
terribly rare, but, for example, the first grove of trees we passed had
about 20 Dark-eyed Juncos, a good-sized handful of Chestnut-backed
Chicadees, a few Black-capped Chickadees, fluttering Golden-crowned
Kinglets with at least one Ruby-crowned, two Red-breasted Nuthatches, a
Brown Creeper, and a Bewick's Wren. And that was just the first grove
of trees!
Sparrows galore. Five woodpecker species, four finch species, thirteen
species of ducks and geese...
Highlights:
Wood Duck 3 brief sightings amongst us
MERLIN Very dark bird landed in Snag Row
Virginia Rail SEEN from the lake
platform
Townsend's Warbler One near mansion
Lynne surprised us by delivering hot cocoa and cinnamon-raisin bread at
about noon. Thanks, Lynne!
After we were done, I decided to walk from the model airplane field out
across the Connector Trail and down the East Lake Sammamish Trail to the
lake viewpoint at 187th Ave. Along the way I found:
Dark-eyed Junco Leucistic bird with white head
California Quail Near Redmond Storage
Winter Wren Ticking along the trail
House Sparrow Near 187th - no reports since Oct.
On the lake were more Wood Ducks, some Common Merganser, and one
Bufflehead.
Surprisingly, we couldn't turn up any Mew Gulls, owls, kingfisher, or
shrike. But that was about all we missed.
Between the main walk and my jaunt down the trail, the total tally was
61 species!
== Michael
Mt. Rainier from the model airplane field, 7:45AM
Pied-billed Grebe in the misty slough
Ollie Oliver's portrait of a Bushtit
Dark eye indicates male
Golden-crowned Sparrows
Hugh Jennings got this great shot of the Merlin at the east end of Snag Row
Hugh Jennings got great photos of hoar frost on the dock railing
This one of Hugh's was the frost on the boardwalk railing
Partially leucistic Dark-eyed Junco near the new shops
Another shot showing the other side of the head
Three Northern Shovelers. Photo by Ollie Oliver
Red-breasted Sapsucker. Photo by Ollie Oliver
Townsend's Warbler. Photo by Ollie Oliver
... and away. Photo by Ollie Oliver
Male Downy Woodpecker, 2009-12-04. Photo by Lillian Reis
American Robin eating haws from a European Hawthorn, 2009-12-05.
Photo by Brian Dobbins