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January 19, 2023

 

The Old Rambler is back!  I survived my pacemaker implant procedure on Monday, and now I have a little gizmo implanted in my heart, giving my heart little shocks to make it beat.  The procedure seems to have been a success, although it is too early to fully assess the results.  I felt good today, though, with much more energy and stamina than I have had for a long time, so I'm hopeful.

 

Today I had a lunch appointment up in Everett, and I went up a little early and stopped by the 10th Street boat launch on Port Gardner Bay in Everett.  There were 8 Canvasbacks fairly close in, so I took pictures.  Here is a female Canvasback.

 

Here is a male Canvasback.

 

Here is a pair of Canvasbacks.

 

A male Common Goldeneye came along, so I took his picture as well.

 

After lunch, I stopped at Juanita Bay Park and walked out on the east boardwalk.  I didn't see any birds along the way, but at the end of the boardwalk, there were ducks and swans out on the water, so I took some pictures.

 

Here are three female Buffleheads, with a male in the background, swimming away.

 

Here's a male Bufflehead.

 

Here's a pair of Buffleheads.

 

There were some Gadwalls around, and here is a male Gadwall.

 

Eight or ten Trumpeter Swans were nearby, and here is one of them.

 

There were also Green-winged Teal off the end of the boardwalk, and here are two pictures of male Green-winged Teal.

 

That's a female Green-winged Teal on the other side of the male.  Here is a male on its own, showing its pretty back feathers.

 

There were a few American Coots, too, and here is one of them.

 

Here are a couple of shots of a male Wood Duck in his colorful breeding plumage.

 

 

 

That's all I got at the park, but when I got home, there were birds coming to our seed feeder, so I took this picture of a male Dark-eyed Junco.

 

And, finally, here is a Black-capped Chickadee.

 

It was fun to get out seeing birds today and taking pictures.  I hope I can get back into it now.  I'm not planning to bother keeping a list for January, since it is so late in the month, but I hope to start up my Monthly Birding in February.  Maybe I can do some birding in the rest of January, just to get back in practice.

 

 

Thursday, January 26, 2023

 

Today I drove out to the Snoqualmie Valley, around the town of Carnation.  I'm not keeping any lists this month, but I wanted to check out the valley sites and take some pictures.  As I drove across the valley, I took this picture of a Song Sprrow.

 

I played the song of Lincoln's Sparrow, and one flew in and posed for me.

 

As I crossed the bridge at Sikes Lake, I took this picture of a male Common Merganser.

 

In good light, his head would look dark green, but in the dim light of today's overcast, it looks pretty black.

 

At Chinook Bend, on the east side of the river, there was a pair of American Kestrels.  Here is the male American Kestrel.

 

I drove on in to Carnation, and at the feeder house there, I took these two pictures of American Goldfinches in their winter plumage.

 

 

I checked out the other house in Carnation that has feeders, and there were some birds around, but nothing interesting and I didn't get any pictures.  I stopped at the Carnation Market and got a ham and salami sandwich, then I drove down the west side of the Snoqualmie River.  There was a little flock of Cackling Geese, and I got this picture of two of them.

 

Cackling Geese look very much like their larger cousins, Canada Geese, except the cacklers are smaller and have shorter necks and bills.

 

On the pond south of Jubilee Farms, there was this feral Muscovy Duck.

 

Feral in this sense means it is an escapee from a farm or a descendant of an escapee.  There was a single male Ring-necked Duck on that pond, too.

 

Next I drove on through Fall City and back up to Neal Road.  Near the end of Neal Road, I got this picture of a male Hooded Merganser.

 

Back in Carnation, I ate half my sandwich in front of the house with feeders, and a male Purple Finch came in for a visit, but I didn't get any pictures.  I moved on to the second house with feeders, where I ate the second half of my sandwich.  There were some birds around, but the only picture I took was this male Anna's Hummingbird.

 

When I had finished my sandwich, I headed back across the valley toward home.  As I was driving by Sikes Lake, I saw a hawk in a tree, so I pulled over and took this picture of a Red-tailed Hawk.

 

That was it for my birding today.  I drove about 60 miles, and I only got out of the car once, to go into the Carnation Market to buy my sandwich and use the rest room.  All my pictures were taken from the car. 

 

After parking my car in the garage, I noticed a Cooper's Hawk on the fence, and I got these two shots of it.

 

 

I don't know when I'll get out there and look for birds again.  There will probably be fewer reports than in the past, but we will see.  I am kind of tired of seeing the same old birds in the same old places, but maybe I can think of ways to motivate myself again.