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Thursday, February 2, 2023

 

Here's another birding report, but it's different in nature.  I'm bored with my Monthly Birding thing, and I want to try something different this year.  I plan to keep daily lists for certain locations.  When I go out birding, I plan to keep a list of every species I see that day and then enter the observations into a spreadsheet for that location.  I've chosen 6 locations to start with, as follows.

 

1.  Juanita Bay - That will include Juanita Bay Park and Juanita Beach Park.

2.  Marymoor Park - In addition to the park itself, I will include nearby spots, like the north end of Lake Sammamish.

3.  Edmonds - That will include Logboom Park in Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, Woodway, and Richmond Beach, as well as various sites within the town of Edmonds.

4.  Everett area - That will include Everett sites as well as Tulalip Bay and Marysville sites.

5.  Snoqualmie Valley - That will include the Redmond Retention Ponds and the Redmond Watershed Preserve, in addition to sites along the Snoqualmie Valley from Tokul Creek to Crescent Lake.

6.  Skagit county - That will include Eide Road and Whidbey Island as well.

 

I plan to take pictures as usual and write reports.  I don't plan to mention every common species I see in my reports, but I'll give the total for the day and mention interesting or "good" birds.  So, that is the new game, and here we go with Thursday, February 2.

 

Today I went out to the Snoqualmie Valley.  A quick stop at the Redmond Retention Ponds only got me a pair of Buffleheads.  As I drove across the valley, I picked up American Crow and Common Raven.  At Sikes Lake the most interesting birds were a couple of Pied-billed Grebes.  In the dead tree at the intersection of 284th Ave NE and Ames Lake-Carnation Rd NE, there was a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  Here are a couple of pictures of that beauty.

 

 

Sharp-shinned Hawk looks very much like its larger cousin Cooper's Hawk, but I believe this one was a sharpie.  The head is rounded, the back of the neck is the same color as the crown and the back, and it was smaller than a Cooper's Hawk.  I also saw the legs with my binoculars, and they were thin.

 

I heard a Bald Eagle calling as I drove toward Carnation from there, but I didn't spot it.  From NE Carnation Farm Rd, I saw some Common Mergansers on Sikes Lake, and a large flock of American Wigeons landed in the field across the lake.  I used my scope to scan the wigeons, but I couldn't find a Eurasian Wigeon.  A Northern Harrier was hinting over the field across the lake, too.

 

In Carnation, I picked up Eurasian Collared-Dove at the original house with feeders and Mourning Dove at the new house with feeders.  Here's a male Dark-eyed Junco at that second feeder house.

 

For comparison, here is a female Dark-eyed Junco.  Her hood is a lighter shade of gray.

 

Here's a picture of a European Starling in the sun, taken at that same house.

 

Next I picked up a sandwich at the Carnation Market deli counter.  After that, I stopped at the bridge over the Tolt River and looked for American Dipper.  I dipped on the dipper, and I drove down the west side of the Snoqualmie River.  I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk along that road, and at the Blue Heron golf course, I added Ring-necked Duck to my daily list.  Here's a picture of a pair of Ring-necked Ducks.

 

The male is the more colorful one on the left.  At the pond on the east side of the road, I added Hooded Merganser, and here is a shot of the male Hooded Merganser.

 

South of there, a large flock of Cackling Geese flew overhead, and then I spotted a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, but I couldn't get a picture. 

 

I drove to Tokul Creek, which is located between Fall City and Snoqualmie Falls.  I tried again for American Dipper, but again failed.  I walked to the east side of the bridge and played Pacific Wren songs, where I have seen them in the past.  A very cooperative little Pacific Wren flew in and sang back to me from very close.  It posed for me in the sun, and I got these pictures of it.  Pacific Wren.

 

 

It was intermittently singing back to me, and here's a shot of it singing.

 

One more picture of the lovely little Pacific Wren.

 

I ate my sandwich in my car (it was cold outside), and after that I looked once more for a dipper on the creek, but still couldn't find one.

 

I headed back toward Carnation and home, but I detoured up dead-end Neal Road, just outside Fall City.  There was a flock of Cackling Geese by the road, and at the end of the road, I got out my scope and looked at the blackbirds in the leafless trees across the river, next to the dairy.  I was able to pick out some Brewer's Blackbirds and one Brown-headed Cowbird, along with starlings and Red-winged Blackbirds.

 

After that I drove through Carnation and checked out the two feeder houses again, but found nothing new.  On my drive back across the valley, I added Green-winged Teal to my day list.  I ended up with 33 species for my rather short day.  That isn't a particularly good total for the five hours I was out there, but it was a nice day in the sun and I got some pictures I like.  I'm surprised I never saw any sparrows, despite stopping and playing sparrow songs from time to time.

 

I don't expect to go out birding as often as I have done in recent years, but I hope to continue to keep daily lists, take pictures, and write reports.

 

 

Monday, February 6, 2023

 

Today I had a lunch appointment up in Everett, which is about 20 miles north of home, on Puget Sound.  I went up a little early and stopped at the Everett sewage treatment plant.  I picked up American Crow and European Starling, and when I got the main pond, there were a couple of immature Bald Eagles in trees.  Here is one of the immature Bald Eagles.

 

Bald Eagles take four years to attain their adult plumage with the white head and white tail.  I think this bird is coming up on its 3rd birthday (hatchday?), meaning it was hatched in 2020.

 

There were hundreds of ducks on the big pond.  I identified 6 duck species, including Canvasback and Ruddy Duck, and there were some Short-billed Gulls sitting on the concrete edge of the pond.  Down the road a bit, I saw American Coots, Mallards, and this Great Blue Heron.

 

As I left the area, I added Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, and American Robin.  After that I went to lunch, although I did see a Red-tailed Hawk on the way.  After lunch, I went down to the 10th St boat launch to look for birds.  There was a female Common Goldeneye out o the water, so I took her picture.

 

Among the gulls that were roosting in the parking lot, there were a couple of them with short, very pink legs and short bills.  I think they were Iceland Gulls, although I'm not sure of that.  Here's a picture of what I think was an Iceland Gull.

 

A few years ago this bird would have been called a Thayer's Gull, but the birding powers that be merged the two species, and now it is a subspecies of Iceland Gull.

 

I also got this picture of a Ring-billed Gull.

 

On my way home, I drove around the parking lot for a new building north of the boat launch, where you could see parts of the bay, and I added Bufflehead and Double-crested Cormorant to my day list.

 

That was it.  Not much birding, and almost all from the car.  I got 25 species for my Everett area list for the year.