In my first "major" excursion since horking my knee, quad and ankle in
late September, I ventured off flat concrete at the Aboretum Waterfront
Walk today. It was a great day for birding, I think I was suffering from
withdrawal! I still have a lousy time with passerines, so I tend to look
out for birds like ducks and gulls, as you'll see from my list, which
follows. But first I have a question. They're almost through with the
construction at Golden Gardens Park, and art of the process was to rip
out all the non-native vegetation north of the bathhouse and replant
things like Oregon Grape and Dune Grass. As a result of all the work, all
of the passerines that usually flit through the thickets, Red Winged
Blackbirds and Song Sparrows, mostly, are gone. There wasn't a bird to be
seen. So my question, how long does it take for an area like this to
become resettled? I intend to keep an eye on it, so I guess I'll find
out. They also restored two streams and built a small pond. (North of the
turn around). I intend to see how long it takes the birds to find this,
too. With the large numbers of tame and hybrid Mallards that congregate
nearby, I doubt if it will take too long...

Aboretum Waterfront Walk,

More Coots and Gadwalls than I could count. They were everywhere
Pied Billed Grebe 3
Horned Grebe 2
Western Grebe 2
Double Crested Cormorant 4 in the water, two wedges overhead, one of 6,
one of 12. Maybe 10 other individuals flying.
Canada Goose 12
Mallard Maybe 100? mostly sleeping and sunning
Northern Shoveler 6
Common Goldeneye 2
Bufflehead 11 females in one group close to shore at in the lily pads at
Sand Island, 4 males under 520
Ruddy Duck one pair, the male still in breeding plumage. They were too
far away to see to well, though.
Common Merganser 3 females
Hooded Merganser 20? 8 in the water, 12 or so flying. They were doing a
lot of flying around, so I'm not sure how many.
Lots of gulls circling overhead, the ones I could identify were Glaucous
Winged Gulls.
Great Blue Heron 3
Immature Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northern Flicker (heard)
Crows (lots)
Black Capped Chickadees (mostly heard) lots
Bewicks Wren 3
Golden Crowned Kinglet I spotted about 5, but I heard many more.
Robin 10
Oregon Junco 6

Oh yeah, the fall colors are absolutely beautiful!
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Cliff Drake
Ballard, WA
Birder at Juno.com