Greetings fellow tweetsters,

Today, September 24, 1997, I did my weekly Green Lake, Seattle count.
I walked around the lake between 07:00 and 08:30. Conditions were sunny, mild
(15C/60F), light north wind.
The lake is experiencing late-summer algal blooms, with various green and
blue-green species collecting in bays, along with large amounts of Eurasian
millfoil. A couple more of days of warm temperatures and the smell will start
to generate complaints. Good thing they're forecasting rain for this coming
weekend :)
A lot of aquatic vegetation is near or at the water surface, with mallards,
gadwalls and coots making good use of it.
The pied-bills are done nesting. Two pairs, with food-begging young, are still
out in the lake.
Fall movement is apparent (not from this count alone), with increased numbers
of warblers (especially around the Bathhouse Theater area), different
waterfowl species on single days (ring-necked duck and common goldeneye) and
more "winter species" in general (like golden-crowned kinglets and song
sparrows). Note the total lack of swallows.
Last week there were two merlins at the lake (one with a bulging crop, the
other harassing the red-winged blackbirds), this week an immature (female by
size) Cooper's hawk (posing in a tree for thorough scoping of leg thickness
and head/eye details). Very cooperative.

Legend: where applicable the number before the comma is males, after the comma
females. "imm." is immature.

Pied-billed Grebe 30
Western Grebe 1,1
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 2
Green Heron 1 imm.
Canada Goose 155
Domesticated Goose 9
Mallard 88,62
Gadwall 76,61
American Wigeon 2,1
Ring-necked Duck 4,3
Common Goldeneye 1,0
Ruddy Duck 7,10
Domesticated Duck 9
Cooper's Hawk 0,1 imm.
American Coot 177
Ring-billed Gull 27
Glaucous-winged hybrid gulls 7
Glaucous-winged Gull 26
Rock Dove 18
Belted Kingfisher 0,1
Downy Woodpecker 1,1
Northern Flicker 2,0
American/Northwestern Crow 71
Black-capped Chickadee 36
Bushtit 70
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet 24
Cedar Waxwing 6
European Starling 75
Yellow-rumped Warbler 46
Song Sparrow 8
Red-winged Blackbird 56
Brewer's Blackbird 12
House Finch 4
House Sparrow 60

Good birding!

Martin Muller, Seattle
martinmuller at msn.com