Greetings,

This morning I did my weekly bird count of Green Lake, Seattle, WA. The
section of the path along the west side (Aurora Avenue) is still closed-off,
so I walk the detour, on the west side of Aurora, This allows for catching
most birds offshore in that area, as well as scrutiny of the section from
either end, using my scope. I'm willing to bet I catch most non-songbirds. I'm
looking forward to reopening of this section, now scheduled for March 10.
Today they started putting up the fence for the third and final section,
between Aqua Theater and Community Center (project scheduled to be finished
late May).

Legend: single number means no distinction between sexes was made. Number
before comma are males, after the comma females. Numbers in parenthesis are
last week's numbers, indicating a substantial change; otherwise known as
"spring's a coming...".
Exclamation mark indicates rare visitor to the lake (i. e, fewer than 5 times
seen by me these past ten years)

Date February 26, 1997.
Conditions were overcast with light drizzle on and off. The count was
conducted from 07:00 - 08:30.
There appears to be very little plant material as food available in the lake.
Most coots, gadwalls and wigeons are found on the grass.


SPECIES NUMBER

pied-billed grebe 4
horned grebe 2
red-necked grebe 1 (!)
western grebe 1
double-crested cormorant 27
great blue heron 1
Canada goose 15
domesticated goose 9
wood duck 1,1
American green-winged teal 2,1
mallard 25,11 (43,11)
northern shoveler 7,3
gadwall 17,10
Eurasian wigeon 2,0
American wigeon 154,100*
greater scaup 2,1
lesser scaup 35,16 (1,0)
common goldeneye 1,1
bufflehead 7,9 (23,20)
common merganser 17,8 (2,2)
ruddy duck 28,10 (100,65)**
domesticated duck 7
bald eagle 1 (adult perched on island)
Cooper's hawk 0,1 (big, perched at N end)
American coot 201
killdeer 1
Bonaparte's gull 2
mew gull 84
ring-billed gull 92
pink-footed hybrid gulls 21
glaucous-winged gull 73
rock dove 25
downy woodpecker 1,1
northern flicker (red) 1,0
Steller's jay 2
American crow 31
black-capped chickadee 27
bushtit 80
red-breasted nuthatch 2
golden-crowned kinglet 18
American robin 6
European starling 100
song sparrow 2
red-winged blackbird 9
Brewer's blackbird 4,3
house finch 4
American goldfinch 40
house sparrow 24

Notes:
* Ever noticed how the wigeons grazing on the grass react differently to (i.
e, can tell the difference between) dogs on a leash (sentinel pokes head up);
dogs off leash but under voice control (birds closest to dog poke head up);
dog off leash lacking control (all heads up, walking away from dog, eventually
flying to the safety of water)? This same level of "knowledge" is shared by
the mallards and Canada geese.
** Last week's Ruddy Duck number was most likely elevated because of the two
eagles (scraggly looking adult and beautiful looking first-year bird) chasing
each other over the lake, scaring the Ruddies total corners of the lake. Thus
this week's lower number does not necessarily indicate a real change in
numbers over the past week.

Good birding,
Martin Muller, Seattle
martinmuller at msn.com