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Wednesday, March 29, 2023

 

It's been quite a while since I wrote a report.  The weather hasn't been cooperative, and I have had a problem with pain in my right shoulder from what is probably a slight tear in my rotator cuff.  As I result, I haven't felt like going out birding.  I had a steroid shot into the bursa in my right shoulder on Monday, and the pain is a lot less now.  The weather was also good today, so I went out birding.

 

Before I get into today, I want to show three pictures of ducks from March 17.  I went down to Juanita Bay Park that day and got these pictures.  Here is a pair of Wood Ducks.

 

Here is a male Wood Duck on his own.

 

Here's a male Green-winged Teal, rooting around on the shore.

 

Today I went out to the Snoqualmie Valley, in search of American Dipper, as well as anything else I could find.  I kept a day list, which is what I'm doing this year.  My first stop was at the Redmond Retention Ponds.  On the main pond, there were some Mallards, two pairs of Buffleheads, and three American Coots.  Around the edges, male Red-winged Blackbirds were calling loudly.  There were American Robins foraging on the ground, and here's one of them.

 

Out in the Snoqualmie Valley, a third year Bald eagle was perched in the sun.

 

I was looking for sparrows when I spotted some movement in the bushes.  It turned out to be a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  I played its song and it responded by showing its red crown and fluttering its wings.  Here are a couple of pictures of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

 

 

I picked up a few other birds as I continued across the valley, but nothing interesting.  At the "old" house in Carnation with feeders, I got this picture of a male American Goldfinch just coming in to his summer (breeding) plumage.

 

I checked out the "new" house with feeders, seeing nothing very interesting, and then stopped at the Carnation market for a ham and salami sandwich (the highlight of any trip out to the Snoqualmie Valley, unless I see a dipper).  I drove down the west side of the river, south of Carnation, to Fall City.  At the large pond on the east side of the road, I took these next two pictures of Hooded Mergansers.  Here is a male Hooded Merganser.

 

Here is a much plainer female Hooded Merganser.

 

I drove up to Tokul Creek and went out on the bridge, looking for American Dipper.  No luck today, sorry to say.  I ate half my sandwich in the car and checked again, but still no dipper.  After that, I headed back toward home.  I drove up Neal Road, but didn't see anything interesting.  It was remarkable that I never saw any sparrows today at all, except a couple of Song Sparrows.  Back in Carnation, I checked out the Tolt River for dippers, but no luck there, either.  It was to be a dipperless day today.

 

On my way back across the valley, there was a pair of Common Mergansers on Sikes Lake, and I took this distant shot of a male Common Merganser.

 

I ended up seeing 29 species today, which is 4 species fewer than I saw back in February on the same route.  It was very slow today, considering the weather and season, but at least I got out there and did some birding.  I don't expect to do a lot of birding over the coming weeks, but I hope to get out there some more.